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A COURSE OF STUDY IN 
SPEECH TRAINING 
AND 


PUBLIC SPEAKING 
FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 





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001 231925 
A COURSE OF STUDY IN@erp5.4, eww” 


SPEECH TRAINING 


AND 


PUBLIC SPEAKING 


FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 






BEING THE REPORT OF A SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS 
OF SPEECH .* WITH A SERIES OF SPECIAL 
ARTICLES HERE COMPILED AND EDITED BY 


A. M..DRUMMOND 


CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE 





THE CENTURY CoO. 
NEW YORK & LONDON 
1925 


Copyright, 1925, by 


Tre NationAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF SPEECH 


Printed in U. S. A. 


PREFACE 


The increased interest in public speaking, general speech 
training and dramatic art has been one of the striking educa- 
tional developments of the past decade. 

That this interest is a natural reaction from the older over- 
formal disciplines was recognized by the National Joint Com- 
mittee on English in their Report on the Reorganization of 
English in Secondary Schools, published in 1917. The Com- 
mittee characterized previous tendencies in secondary school 
English as fostering ‘‘a type of English study that practically 
ignored oral composition and subjects of expression drawn 
from the pupil’s own experience, and that constantly applied 
in the study of literary masterpieces formal rhetorical cate- 
gories.’? The Committee added, in effect, that a reaction 
against such a type of study was inevitable, and that with 
the wonderful development of the public high school during 
the two preceding decades, such a reaction has begun. Since 
1917 the new movement has steadily gathered strength. 

In response to various requests arising from the widespread 
interest in speech which is part of this movement, a special 
committee of the National Association of Teachers of Speech 
was appointed in December, 1923, to study the situation and 
to recommend courses and procedures in speech training and 
public speaking for secondary schools. 

The Report of the Committee on Courses of Study for 
Secondary Schools was approved by the Association in 
December, 1924, and its publication with a series of explana- 
. tory articles was authorized. The amplified Report is in- 
Vv 


v1 PREFACE 


tended to serve as an outline of standards, aims, and methods 
in a program of speech training and public speaking in the 
high schools. 

The Report is neither a textbook nor a schedule of daily 
assignments for the teacher’s convenience. It presents a brief 
survey of the field; defines certain sound objectives; proposes 
a group of courses adapted to these aims, to the high school 
curriculum, and to college entrance requirements; and offers 
a series of discussions intended, in various ways, to enforce 
a point of view, to correct possible misconceptions, to suggest 
ways and means, and to formulate standards. 

The aim of the Committee has been to present those points 
of view and those methods which seem most useful at the 
present time, whether they be traditional or based upon recent 
investigation and research. The general agreement on these 
does not, of course, commit members of the Committee in- 
dividually to every statement and every implied educational 
doctrine. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 
REPORT OF A SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL As- 


SOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF SPEECH. . ... . 3 
General Findings of the Committee . . . . . 4 
ihe Courses .pecommendédis) i). ee 8 
General Outline of the Courses Recommended . . 10 
Dramatics: lL: Dramatic: Interpretation in) vGuein sf 2b 
Dramatics 2: Drama and Dramatic Production . 22 
Committee of the National Association of Teachers 

PLM TCOCAE Me UUs e iii en cig Tat Whe 6/70! Rgowh Avan ARI Mere Cops a A 


Special Articles 


CoMMUNICATION: THE Basic PRINcIPLE. Harry Caplan. 29 
THE PsycHOLoGICAL Basis or SPEECH TRAINING. Charles 

Fed OUTTA eg ARNEL So LEAS CRO DOL aay TEA MUERTE ATL OO EIR OR 19 
ENpbs AND MEANS IN ELEMENTARY SPEECH EDUCATION. 

UNOCAL ROMGS  WiCAVETIOS lie ude nie eM a riba Rte lameittes vale 41 
CONVERSATIONAL QUALITY IN DeEuivery. fRussell H. 

RNAI IOC TM eM NTA Sn PRE DOU IR me TN RNTT AME MAK CSU MINOT) A TN MRAGA UBL Sy Near AB 20s 
THE TRAINING OF THE VoicE. Henrietta Prentiss . . 63 
PHONETICS AND SPEECH TRAINING. Sarah T. Barrows . 76 


PHONETICS AND THE TEACHING oF Exocution. Lee VN. 
TRADER PATTER Roe My AR TGNG Rac i ERIN Ara Sa a SR at RRA OO RA PM USCA 


vii 


Vill CONTENTS 


Tre PROBLEM OF PRONUNCIATION. William Tilly 


METHOD AND PRACTICE IN THE LEARNING PrRocsEss. James 
M. O’Neill 


ORAL EXPRESSION IN THE ENGLISH Program. Edwin 
B. Richards 


Some DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPEAKING AND WRITING. 
Giles Wilkeson Gray 


THE RHETORIC OF SPOKEN Discourse. Hoyt H. Hudson 
SprEcH PLANS AND OuTuLINES. G. Rowland Collins 


Tue CHOICE OF SUBJECTS FOR STUDENT SPEECHES. 
Everett L. Hunt 


Tue Use oF THE DECLAMATION. Wayland Mazfield 
Parrish . 


Tue Cuass Hour. James A. Winans . i 
THE Course IN Pusiic SPEAKING. Clarence D. Thorpe 
THe New Spirit In Desatine. Philip M. Hicks 
THe Group Discussion. William G. Utterback . 


SILENT versus ORAL READING IN THE SPEECH TRAINING 
ProcRAM. Davis Edwards 


THe OrAu INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE. Lee Emer- 
son Bassett . 


THe Drama AS AN EDUCATIONAL Activity. From The 
Teaching of English in England 


DRAMATICS AND SPEECH TRAINING. A. M. Drummond . 
SoME PRINCIPLES OF Puay Directine. Clarence Stratton 


THE DEVELOPMENT or ACTION AND GESTURE. Joseph 
Searle Gaylord 


PAGE 


87 
96 
106 


112 
119 
127 


140 


146 
155 
164 
174 
181 


191 
203 


211 
230 
238 


247 


CONTENTS 


A Note oN MEMOoRIZATION FoR DELIvERY. Ray K. Immel 


PROBLEMS AND METHODS IN THE CORRECTION OF DEFEC- 


TIVE SPEECH. Smiley Blanton 


ForEIGN ACCENT AND Its ERADICATION. 
Redmond 


Tuer TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 


Damel W. 


1x 
PAGER 


256 


261 


274 
278 





A COURSE OF STUDY IN 
SPEECH TRAINING 
AND 


PUBLIC SPEAKING 
FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 





SPEECH TRAINING AND 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING 
AND PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR 
SECONDARY SCHOOLS 


REPORT OF A SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIA- 
TION OF TEACHERS OF SPEECH ADOPTED BY THE ASSOCIA- 
TION, DECEMBER 31, 1924, as AN ADEQUATE OUTLINE OF 
CouRSES oF STUDY IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND SPEECH 
TRAINING FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 


In the preparation of this report the Committee has utilized 
the findings of all previous Committees of the Association 
on elementary, secondary, and normal school problems and 
on college entrance.t To its recommendations are assimilated 
all pertinent resolutions and all principles which have had 


* Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, Vol. VII, No. 1, Feb., 1921, 
p. 76. ‘‘Report of the Committee on High School Courses.’’ 

Ibid., Vol. VIII, No. i, Feb., 1922, p. 75. ‘‘Report of the Commit- 
tee on High School Courses. ’’ 

Ibid., Vol. VIII, No. 2, April, 1922, p. 132. ‘‘ Report on College En- 
trance Credit.’’ 

Ibid., Vol, VIII., No. 3, June, 1922, p. 209. ‘‘Speech Education in 
the Normal Schools.’’ 

Ibid., Vol. VIII, No. 3, June, 1922, p. 224. ‘‘A Survey of Speech 
Training in High Schools of the United States with Recommendations 
for Its Improvement.’’ 


3 


4 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


the official approval of the Association. It has conducted an 
extensive independent investigation, obtaining information 
from every State, from large and small city school systems, 
from selected schools, and from individual teachers. Thus 
all sections of the United States have contributed to this 
survey. 

The Committee has had the codperation of representative 
administrators—State, city, town, and departmental—as well 
as the assistance of the large number of specialists on the 
Committee. The various schools of opinion and practice both 
within the Association and without, have been considered. 
The situation has been studied from the point of view of the 
teacher of English, of the administrator, and of the college, 
as well as from that of the teacher of Speech and of Public 
Speaking. 

In its recommendations the Committee has attempted to 
present a program representative of the best present practice 
in Speech Training and Public Speaking. The report may 
thus be useful to teachers in colleges and universities as well 
as to the teachers and administrators of the secondary schools 
for whom it is primarily intended. 


GENERAL F INDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE 


1. The elementary school should do more effective work in 
speech training. This responsibility is coming to be more 
generally recognized. Teachers are inadequately trained. 
Some States are planning effective measures for improving the 
training of teachers. Interest in improving defective speech 
seems keener than interest in developing normal speech. 

Speech Clinics. More clinics are needed for the treatment of cases 
of defective speech. That these are needed in colleges and normal 
schools as well as in the elementary and secondary schools is made clear 


by a convincing number of surveys. But the effective place for this 
corrective work is in the elementary grades. 





A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING D 


Oral vs. Silent Reading. The Committee deplores the overemphasis 
on, or the misunderstanding of, the function of silent reading which 
threatens to deprive the elementary schools and the junior high schools 
of their traditionally best established means of speech training—oral 
reading. There should be more silent reading, but there should also 
be more oral reading. The Committee would point out that authorities 
on methods in silent reading urge silent reading as a means to speedier 
and more effective acquisition of information. The materials for silent 
reading should therefore be informative. The materials for oral read- 
ing should be those literary forms intended for oral utterance: the 
poem, the play, the oration, certain types of story, ete. A large field 
of literature therefore falls properly within the scope of oral reading. 
This type of speech training should be encouraged and developed, parallel 
with and cooperating with silent reading for information, 


2. In the high school there is a practically universal re- 
quirement or assumption that from one-fourth to one-fifth of 
the total time for English be given to ‘‘oral English.’’ The 
training of English teachers for this phase of their work is 
generally recognized as inadequate. There are indications 
that speech training may soon be required for all prospective 
teachers of English. There is much informal professional in- 
terest. There is a distinct tendency to require that ‘‘oral 
English’’ be taught by teachers of English, rather than by 
special teachers. 


Resolutions: ‘‘That training in the elementary matters of technique 
of the speaking voice should be a part of the preparation of every 
departmental teacher of English, and that we urge colleges to include 
a course of this sort among those required of students who are to be 
recommended as teachers of English; and 

‘“That the National Council of Teachers of English favors the re- 
quirement by every teacher-certificating agency of reasonable profi- 
ciency in the oral use of our language, making a test in oral English 
a part of any examination given to candidates for teaching certificates.’’ 
Resolutions passed by the National Council of Teachers of English, 
November, 1923. 

‘*Oral English must not... be set apart... but... must be 
considered as a vital, integral part of English, to be taught by the 


6 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


regular English teacher, specially prepared in conjunction with the rest 
of her work.’’ Quotation from a statement by the Supervisor of Eng- 
lish, New York State Department of Education. 


3. Special high school courses in Public Speaking and 
Speech Training are encouraged in practically every State. 
In general these courses are elective in the third and fourth 
years. Owing partly to the recognized scarcity of trained 
teachers, both course and teacher must generally be supported 
by the individual school. Often both teacher and course must 
be approved by the State Department if State credit is 
desired. There are, however, numerous well established high 
school courses. 

4. College entrance credit for Public Speaking is granted 
on certificate by colleges and universities, generally by ap- 
proval of individual schools and sometimes of specific courses. 
Other colleges would grant entrance credit if courses were 
better organized and teachers better trained. 


A tentative outline of this report and Syllabus was submitted to a 
special Committee on College Entrance Credit for Public Speaking of 
the Association of Colleges and Schools of the Middle States and 
Maryland. 

This Committee embodied its recommendations in the following reso- 
lution which was unanimously adopted by the Association on November 
28, 1924: 

‘‘That the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the 
Middle States and Maryland recognizes the great importance of the 
subject of oral expression and recommends at this time that colleges 
which admit by certificate shall consider seriously the granting of Col- 
lege entrance credit to the amount of one-half or one unit to those schools 
which are able to satisfy Committees on admission that the courses in 
oral expression given at those schools are in content, time, and strictness 
of requirement on a par with other subjects for which credit is now 
allowed.’’ 


o. The courses in speech training recommended by the 
Committee are consistent with recommendations for increased 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING 7 


training in oral expression made by such bodies as The Fed- 
eral Bureau of Education, The National Council of Teachers 
of English, The National Association of Teachers of Speech, 
the Commission on the Teaching of English in England; with 
the recommendations of a host of civic, social, and professional 
organizations; and with the opinions of practical men of 
affairs. 

They are also carefully correlated with the latest develop- 
ments of similar work in American schools and colleges. 

6. For the great majority of high school graduates who do 
not proceed to college such courses would be more valuable 
than many of the electives which are now accepted for college 
entrance credit. 

In spite of the increased proportion of students proceeding 
to college the high school is still the institution of higher 
learning for the mass of citizens, and the graduates of high 
schools will do quite as much of the public speaking of the 
nation as will the graduates of the colleges. The importance 
of other types of speech training for this majority of citizens 
not reaching college is proportionately even greater. 

7. The courses recommended have a content equal to that 
of other college entrance subjects. Similar courses are 
already well established in many city systems, in many in- 
dividual high schools, and have the approval of almost all the 
State departments of education. A number of States are 
urging schools which ean afford them to introduce such 
courses. Private preparatory schools of high standing are at 
least as active in encouraging and supporting such courses 
as are the publie schools. Class A universities and colleges 
allow on certificate 4% to 1 unit entrance credit for such 
courses, : 

8. The facilities for training teachers are improving. 
There are a number of colleges and universities where teachers 
may specialize in Speech Training, Public Speaking, and 


8 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Dramatic Art as adequately as in any other subjects, proceed- 
ing, if they wish, to the Master’s and Doctor’s degrees. 

9. The Committee would point out that each of the courses 
recommended—and indeed the whole field—has an appro- 
priate and worthy literature as well as an adequate technologi- 
cal content. In the case of the drama this is obvious. The 
growing interest in silent reading has somewhat obscured 
the fact that the materials for oral reading should be drawn 
from those masterpieces of our literature primarily intended 
for oral presentation. The literature of public address and 
debate, often entirely neglected, is rich and stimulating— 
indeed, in the judgment of many critics, it is the record of 
the only art in which Americans have really excelled. 
Courses in Oral Reading, Public Speaking, Debate, and Dra- 
matics should utilize their literary sources and resources 
more than is now the custom. The literature which is thus 
studied and presented will not only be better understood than 
any other literature read, but can only thus be adequately 
appreciated. 


Collateral Reading. There are already available collateral readings 
of appropriate content. Many already recommended for optional read- 
ing and study in connection with English, History, and Civies are ad- 
mittedly better suited to courses in Public Speaking and Speech Train- 
ing. 


THE Courses RECOMMENDED 1 


The Committee finds the following satisfactory third and 
fourth year courses in Speech Training and Public Speaking, 
from various arrangements of which high school students are 
now profitably obtaining credit toward graduation and toward 
college entrance. 

*The descriptive nomenclature is intentionally somewhat loose and 


varied, being thus more self-explanatory. It is as ‘‘standardized’’ as 
the situation warrants, 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING 9 


(B) Public Speaking or Speech Training % or 1 unit. 
(C) Argument and Debate Y% or 1 unit. 
(D) Oral Interpretation of Literature % unit. 
(E) Dramatics; either (1) Oral Interpretation or 

(2) Drama and Production Y% unit. 


The Committee, however, recommends as a more desirable 
arrangement : ? 


1. (A) A fundamental course in Speech Training or Pub- 
lic Speaking for the second or third year of high school, 
44 unit or 1 unit, followed by— 

2. Electives as approved above in the third or fourth year.* 


(B) Public Speaking 1% or 1 unit. 
(C) Argument and Debate 14 or 1 unit. 
(D) Oral Interpretation of Literature 1% unit. 


(E) Dramatics; either (1) Oral Interpretation or 
(2) Drama and Production ¥% unit. 


3. A school might offer (in addition to the fundamental 
course) one, or some, or all of the five possible one or one-half 
unit third or fourth year electives. 


Nott. These electives—B, C, D, E—should be offered only in the 
last two years of high school. Pupils will then have had sufficient work 
in English, Oral English, Speech Training, Current Events, Reading, His- 
tory, etc., to allow the content of courses to be appropriately specialized. 

Various arrangements are possible; the Fundamental Course A fol- 
lowed by B, or C, or D, or E would comprise the soundest unit. When 


2 Satisfactory work is being done and can be done in the four courses 
B, C, D, E, without the preceding Fundamental Course. In some States 
this seems the most practical administrative arrangement. 

%Some other courses suggested and now being offered in schools of 
high standing—Extempore Speaking, Story Telling, Phonetics, Parlia- 
mentary Procedure and Practice—the Committee believes should not be 
recommended in this report. These courses, however, are not disap- 
proved. Some of their content and method would naturally be assimi- 
lated to the courses recommended. 


10 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


no fundamental course is given, B followed by C, B followed by H, D 
followed by H-1 or E-2 would be possible arrangements. In a school 
emphasizing Dramatics and with proper facilities H-1 and H-2 would make 
a sound unit. (Certainly the teacher who teaches H-1 should be able to 
teach H-2, and vice versa.) 

With or without the Fundamental Course A, Public Speaking B or 
Argumentation and Debate C, could be offered as a satisfactory full unit 
course. 


Any satisfactory one-unit arrangement of the courses 
recommended could probably now be certified as a fourth unit 
of English to many colleges allowing four units of entrance 
eredit in English. 


GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE CouRSES RECOMMENDED 


I—Conditions and Principles Approved for All Courses 


1. Courses should be organized for regular class instruction 
under the ‘‘unit’’? system. ‘‘Rhetoricals,’’. ‘‘assemblies,’’ 
and ‘“‘plays’’ may legitimately be products of, or parts of, 
the courses, but should be incidental to the regular classroom 
work. Courses should not be clearing houses for interscholastie 
contests in which the reputation of the school and of the 
teacher depends on the decision. 

2. Teachers should have sympathy with the work; training 
in its methodology ; fundamental training in phonetics, voice, 
pronunciation, and principles of expression; personal pro- 
ficiency in speaking ; habits of speech and pronunciation which 
will be a sound influence on their pupils. 

3. Courses should improve the pupil’s private speech and 
conversation quite as much as—or even more than—his speak- 
ing in public. They should also do quite as much to suppress 
bad public speaking as to promote good public speaking. 

4. All work in oral expression should build on the natural, 
conversational speech of the individual—improving and de- 
veloping, but not artificially standardizing it. 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING 11 


5. Voice, pronunciation, enunciation, phrasing, emphasis, 
and action should receive proper attention in all courses. 

6. Training in expression is apt to be futile or artificial 
unless an impulse to express or communicate is present. 
Therefore, subjects discussed, readings for background, in 
 faet the whole plan of the course, and the conduct of the class 
hour should be such as to stemulate the desire and develop the 
impulse to communicate. 

7. Commumcation as an underlying principle of spoken 
discourse includes the discovery of ideas, their selection, their 
arrangement, their verbal expression, and their appropriate 
presentation through speech and action to secure a desired 
effect on the hearer. 

8. The technical training of the courses should be based on 
the principles: (1) that the standard of speaking and reading, 
whether in private or in public, is essentially conversational, 
communicative speech, and (2) that speaking or reading in 
public is a quite normal act. A variety of situations, projects, 
ete., should be arranged to enforce and develop these funda- 
mental principles. 

9. The work of the courses should be carefully balanced 
between theory and practice—between the knowledge of 
‘‘how and why’’ and the acquisition of personal skill. 

10. Written work should be required in all courses, par- 
ticularly written plans, outlines, and analyses as a basis for 
oral work. Better speaking will mean better writing—better 
writing will mean better speaking. 

11. <A suitable text or texts should be used. 

12. Appropriate collateral readings should be required: 
(1) readings on method, problems of technique, ete.; (2) read- 
ing of types, models, etc.; (3) readings in the characteristic 
content of the forms of expression studied—the selections 
chosen combining interesting and typical subject matter with 
excellence of form. 


12 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


13. There should be the usual preliminary and final ex- 
aminations, either (a) oral, or (b) written and oral, or (c) 
written, with oral work certified as in modern language. 

14. No pupil should receive final credit whose pronuncia- 
tion of English is unsatisfactory, or whose speech is an in- 
effective means of communication. (The clinic, not the college 
entrance credit course, must care for the subnormal and the 
defective. ) 

15. Not more than fifteen pupils should be assigned to 
each section, unless there is individual conference and drill 
outside the class period. 

16. Where individual conferences and drills are a definite 
part of the course, the time necessary for them should be 
included in the teacher’s regular schedule of teaching hours. 

17. The scheme of courses which follows is based on the 
assumption that a trained teacher is in charge. It is therefore 
an outline of aims, standards, methods, and organization, 
not a statement of technological detail or of daily marching 
orders. 

18. The teacher should know what has been done in oral 
English (as well as in other courses) and wherever possible 
should build on that work. 


IIl—The Fundamental Course: Course A 


‘“Speech Training’’ or ‘‘Public Speaking I.’’ 

Recommended for the second or third year; 1/2 or 1 unit; 
to provide (1) a foundation for advanced and more special- 
ved courses, and (2) training for those who will not take an 
advanced course. 

For additional principles underlying this course refer to 
preceding section (I) ‘‘Conditions and Principles Approved 
for All Courses,’’ page 10. 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING = 13 


1. This course (as all others) should emphasize the funda- 
mental aims of all work in Speech Training and Public 
Speaking: 

(a) The conception and effective use of speech and action 

as means of communication—as vehicles for ideas. 

(b) The development of the ability to discover through 
analysis, and to assimilate, the intellectual and emo- 
tional meaning of ideas, words, and compositions. 

(c) The development of the ability to discover, select, and 
arrange ideas, and to express them verbally, for the 
purpose of communicating through speech and action 
in order to secure a desired effect upon the hearer. 

(d) The improvement of the powers of expression through 
speech and action for the purpose of communicating 
ideas and emotions. 

2. The method of the course should increase both skill and 

knowledge: 

(a) Offering graded and varied experiences to lead the 
pupil toward the mental attitudes, processes of 
thought, and uses of voice and body effective in com- 
municating with those about him. 

(b) Furnishing knowledge of the processes of communi- 
eation through speech and action. 

3. The standard of speaking should be that which is con- 
versational, communicative; and the course should seek to 
normalize, improve, and develop the speech of the individual 
pupils, avoiding artificial formality. 

4, The work of the course should provide varied ap- 
proaches to: 


(a) Correct and adequate thought and emotional proc- 
esses. 


14 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


(b) Physical readiness for response to thought and feeling. 
(c) A lively sense of communication. 
(d) Improved speech. 


d. Instruction and persistent drill in pronunciation, articu- 
lation, phrasing, emphasis, sentence intonation, etc., should 
continue throughout the course, with necessary corrective and 
developing exercises in breathing, in the production of voice, 
and in its control. All such drills and exercises should be 
consistent with phonetie¢ principles. 

6. The short talk (gradually developing into the simple 
speech) and the reading of simple prose and poetry should be 
both means to and products of instruction in the details of 
expression. 

7. Prepared or extempore ‘‘class conversations’’ should 
also be used. 

8. In the preparation of the original talks or speeches given, 
the plan, the full sentence outline, and the adaptation of 
materials to the actual audience should be emphasized. 

9. The prose and poetry selected for analysis and assimila- 
tion and reading aloud should present a gradation of technical 
difficulties, and should be of intrinsic literary merit. 

10. Variations of the socialized recitation will promote the 
interplay of thought necessary to an understanding of the 
relation of speaker and audience. 

11. The teacher must so conduct both class hour and per- 
sonal criticism that natural and willing expression will be 
encouraged. 


IlIl—-Public Speaking: Course B 


Klective offered in the third or fourth year; 1% or 1 unit. 

Might be given without the recommended prerequisite—the 
Fundamental Course. 

In either case, for other principles and methods underlying 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING = 15 


this course and to be assimilated with it, see (1) *‘ Conditions 
and Principles Approved for All Courses,’’ page 10, and 
(II) ‘The Fundamental Course’’: Course A, page 12. 

1. The aim of the course should be the acquisition of a 
clear, direct, communicative, persuasive manner of presenting 
to an audience materials chosen and organized by the speaker 
according to specific rhetorical plans. 

2. ‘‘Declamation’’ and ‘‘impersonation’’ may be used as 
means to this end, but skill in these is not an objective of the 
course. The pupil should learn to speak in his own person 
to the audience he actually has before him on a subject and 
in a situation real to the whole group concerned. 

3. The forms of discourse chiefly represented In public 
address are (1) persuasive argument, (2) exposition, (3) nar- 
ration. The pupil might well be introduced to them in the 
reverse order. 

4, The creative work of the course should be a development 
with variations of the short extemporaneous talk based on a 
carefully prepared plan and outline. 

5. The functions of speech and composition outlines are not 
identical. Topical outlines suitable as sketches of articles to 
be fully developed in writing are not acceptable outlines for 
speeches. Speech outlines require complete statements. 

6. After the student has had sufficient platform experience 
short memorized selections may profitably be used as a basis 
for detailed drill in delivery, but only after their full meaning 
has been realized and assimilated. 

7. Ability to deliver a memorized speech with the spon- 
taneity of impromptu utterance is an appropriate minor ob- 
jective of the course. 

8. Various forms of public address should be studied, com- 
posed, and delivered, always with emphasis on effecting the 
several characteristic ends of public address on the actual 
class audience in the situation as it exists. 


16 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


9. Assign problems involving different rhetorical solutions. 

10. Readings in method beyond the text used, in models, 
and in appropriate speech content might be selected and 
assigned. 

11. Some speeches should be read, studied, outlined, and 
reproduced in class. (Some well edited collections suitable 
for high school use are’ available. See also recommended 
readings in English and History in State Syllabuses and 
College Entrance Board Readings.) 

12. The précis method may profitably be used in sum- 
marizing the thought of class speeches or of assigned readings. 

13. Platform manners and ease should be cultivated by 
definite instruction, by drill, and by various speech situations. 

14. ‘Open forum’’ discussions with a number of speakers 
taking whatever position they wish on a given topic will be 
a better project in the class in public speaking than will formal 
‘“ debates. ’’ 

15. Open discussion of the subject to illustrate the social 
nature of thinking should be utilized to teach the need and to 
suggest the means of the adaptation necessary to communica- 
tion, interest, clearness, conviction, or persuasion. 

16. Freedom of discussion, stimulated by the teacher, is 
necessary to bring out the divergence of opinions, motives, 
and understandings which is the raison d’étre of public dis- 
course. Unless the study of public speaking quickens the 
pupil’s realization of these divergences it is not a ‘‘humane’’ 
study and surely not a very ‘‘practical’’ one. 


IV—Argumentation and Debate: Course C 


Elective offered in the third or fourth year; 1% or 1 unit. 

Might be given without the recommended prerequisite—the 
Fundamental Course. 

In erther case, for other principles and methods underlying 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING 17 


this course and to be assimilated with it, see the preceding 
sections, (I), page 10, (II), page 12, and (III), page 15. 

1. The course should aim to develop the logical faculties, 
especially in the field of opinion; to train in gathering, testing, 
and arranging evidence; to give practice in brief drawing 
and in the writing of arguments; to encourage concrete and 
vivid rhetorical presentation of an argument; to afford ex- 
perience and instruction in fair-minded discussion and in oral 
debate; to insure some knowledge of parliamentary procedure. 

2. Attention to effective speaking should naturally be 
constant. 

3. Preparation for debate should be ‘‘scientific’’; but de- 
bate is a form of public address. The things which it is 
appropriate, convincing, and persuasive to say on the propo- 
sition depend on the speaker, the audience, and the occasion. 

4. The importance of lucid exposition as effective argument 
should not be ignored in the attempt to develop the processes 
of conviction and persuasion. 

5. An attempt to utilize the social nature of thinking 
should be made at every stage of the argumentative process. 

6. Exercises should present debate as a process of arriving 
at compromise, or assent to action, or of attempting to arrive 
at truth. 

7. Library reference work and exercises in finding evidence 
and recording it accurately should come early in the course. 

8. Collateral readings in (1) representative debates and 
in (2) ‘‘eurrent events’’ should form part of the work of the 
course. (Studies in the argumentative speeches and papers 
of Lincoln, for example, might be basic to the whole course.) 

9. Drills in stating and explaining propositions, finding 
issues, briefing materials, planning the ‘‘case’’ (as dis- 
tinguished from drawing the brief) should precede formal 
debating. 

10. Writing the brief, and the plan of the speech drawn 


18 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


from the brief, and of the argument expanded from the plan 
will be incomplete unless carried over into actual debate. 
Debates conducted ‘‘on paper’’ between groups or individuals 
will often sharpen the tools of argument; time is needed for 
careful thought and accurate statements. (The teacher will 
remember Sentimental Tommy.) 

11. Problems on which no evidence is to be found in the 
library should be debatéd. (Some local civie or school 
problem.) 

12. Forensic as well as deliberative questions should be 
studied. 

13. ‘‘Team’’ debates should not be overemphasized; there 
should be opportunity for individual responsibility, for in- 
dividual conviction and interest, and for play of individual 
ideas. 

14. The artificial clash of the ‘‘academic’’ debate may be 
avoided by ‘‘open forum’’ debates, and by three (or more) 
sided debates. 

15. Carefully prepared and impromptu debates should 
alternate in some constructive progression. The memorized 
debate should be of high quality if done at all. 

16. The précis method is recommended for reproducing 
debates or readings. 

17. There should be some study of parliamentary law and 
practice under its rules. 


V—Oral Interpretation of Literature: Course D 


Elective offered in the third or fourth year; 14 unit. 

Might be gwen without the recommended prerequisite—the 
Fundamental Course. 

In either case, for principles and methods underlying this 
course and to be assimilated with it see preceding sections, 
especially (I), page 10, and (II), page 12. 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING 19 


1. In its broadest sense oral reading has for its aim the 
realization of the cultural and humanizing possibilities in- 
herent in the best lterature. To neglect oral reading in the 
study of literature, reading in which pupils are bent on the 
problem of expressing the meaning, is the neglect of those 
vital elements that are the secret of its power. 

2. If thought and spirit are to be communicated, they 
must be possessed by the reader. Good reading implies, then: 
(1) the ability to analyze and understand the meaning of 
what is written; (2) ready and true response to the thought ; 
(3) the willingness and the desire to share thought and 
emotion with others; and (4) the ability to express these in 
natural, forceful, and attractive utterance. 

3. Without phrasing, inflection, subordination, emphasis, 
time, melody, and quality of tone the reader cannot com- 
municate clear thought and directed feeling. 

4. Study of the pronunciation of English is more important 
in Reading than any other course outlined (except as Reading 
is a large part of Dramatic Interpretation). In the com- 
munication of the xsthetic feelings pronunciation is more 
important than it is in the communication of intellectual 
content. 

d. The readings should be of literary merit. They may be 
selected according to different plans: (a) variety of forms; 
(b) historical sequence; (c) unity in variety of subject; 
(d) drawn from content of other courses so that the reading 
may be a definite instrument for other studies as well as a 
discipline in itself. 

6. A number of suitable books of graded selections are 
available. See also lists of books and selections prescribed 
and suggested for literature classes of the various grades. 
(Bureau of Education Bulletin, No. 2, 1917; College Entrance 
Board Readings, etc.) 

7. As the style or quality of reading desired is that of 


20 SPHECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


conversation at its best it will ordinarily be best to begin with 
simple prose. 

8. Class assignments should outline definite problems of 
thought, imagery, and emotion. 

9. Written analyses and summaries should be required. 

10. Assignments should enable each pupil to have oppor- 
tunities to interpret selections to the class as an audience. 

11. The memorization of specific passages of poetry and 
fine prose should be required. 

12. Hach pupil should prepare and read to the class one 
fairly long selection. 

13. There should be constant practice in reading aloud at 
sight. 

14. Graded experience from informal to relatively formal 
situations will increase freedom of mind and body for 
expression. 

15. The spirit of the classroom must encourage free, spon- 
taneous, true expression. Criticism should be directed to the 
problem of how best to interpret the literature read, that its 
meaning and spirit may be understood and enjoyed by all. 

16. The solution of many of the most difficult problems in 
teaching oral reading depends on the ability of the teacher 
to read aloud well. 


VI—Dramatics, 1 or 2: Course E 


Electives offered in the third or fourth year; 14 unit. 

T'wo courses im dramatics are recognized: (1) Dramatic 
Interpretation, and (2) Drama and Dramatic Production. 
Either course might be given without the recommended pre- 
requsite—the Fundamental Course. 

In either case, for principles and methods underlying, in ap- 
propriately varying degrees, the two courses in Dramatics, 
and to be assimilated with them see preceding sections, es- 
pecially (I), page 10, and (II), page 12. 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING 21 


For the purposes of this report a detailed discussion of these 
courses seems unnecessary. 


DrRAMATICS 1: DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 


Recommended in preference to Dramatics 2: Drama and 
Dramatic Production. 

1. The aims of a course in dramatic interpretation should 
be to increase ability to analyze, interpret, and assimilate the 
emotional and intellectual content of drama; to enlarge the 
capacity for true and vivid emotional reactions which can 
be expressed through speech and action; to improve the agents 
for communicating this content orally and through unified 
patterns of physical movement. 

2. Some elementary instruction in the theories of the drama 
and of the theater should be given, but as a necessary back- 
ground only. (In Dramatics 2 the relations of content are 
reversed. ) 

3. The plays and scenes of plays chosen for study should 
be chosen from the best plays available in English—plays 
which will widen the pupil’s experience and improve his 
taste, as well as serve as the instruments for developing his 
expression. 

4. Require written analyses, etc., of scenes studied. 

5. Study and drill for centrally derived posture, move- 
ment, and gesture. 

6. Alternate work on action with free and impromptu read- 
ing and rehearsal. 

7. Provide both individual coaching and directed group 
rehearsal. 

8. Each pupil might prepare a play for reading and read 
to the class selections from it. 

9. Drawing plans and designs of settings, blocking out the 
movement of characters, drawing up property plots, collecting 


2929 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


pictures illustrative of, and reporting on, the milieu of plays 
assigned for interpretation, and other ‘‘notebook’’ work will 
tend to stimulate the imagination, and prove valuable training 
in accurate reading. 


DRAMATICS 2: DRAMA AND DRAMATIC PRODUCTION 


Procedure for Dramatics 2 has been developed in well estab- 
lished high school courses. Dramatics 2 may perhaps be more 
popular than Dramatics 1 recommended by the Committee. 

1. The study of representative plays, their theatre and 
staging, theories of dramatic and theatrical art, with practice 
in stage craft, and incidental presentation of plays. 

2. A well trained teacher for Dramatics 2 is imperative. 
The executive faculty necessary to ‘‘put on’’ a play is com- 
mon; trained talent needed to make an academic discipline of 
these activities is rare. 

3. Work sketched under Dramatics 1 will be more highly 
developed in Dramatics 2 and carried toward laboratory ex- 
periment. 

4. The work of other departments, manual training, design, 
ete., should be effectively codrdinated with that of Dra- 
matics 2. 

5. The stage and other facilities necessary to Dramatics 2 
must be adequate for varied, though simple, practical demon- 
strations, and for laboratory work. 


Nots. The value of school dramatics was well summed up by the 
committee of the National Council of Teachers of English on plays, 
under the chairmanship of the late Thacher Guild. In the report of 
the committee made in November, 1914, and published in the English 
Journal for January, 1915, appeared the following summary, adopted 
by the National Joint Committee on English for their report on the 
Reorganization of English in Secondary Schools, Bulletin 1917, No. 2, 
Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior. 


A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING ~ 23 
A. The aims of such study should be: 


1. To develop the power of discrimination which enables one to 
recognize in the best drama the enduring literary and artistic 
values. 

2. To develop a permanent interest in reading plays. 

3. To develop such artistic and emotional qualities as may be 
appropriately and successfully stimulated in the exercises of 
dramatic interpretation (i. e., reading and acting). 

4, To develop a spirit of active and intelligent interest in con- 
temporary dramatic entertainment. 


B. The chief means of attaining these ends (in addition to a study of 
literary values) are: 

1. In the study of each play a proper consideration of its dra- 
matic values; emphasis on the need of visualization; recogni- 
tion of the relation of the play to the theater of its period 
and to the general development of the drama. 

2. Wider reading of plays, including foreign and contemporary 
drama; such plays to be assigned or suggested by each 
teacher according to circumstances. 

3, Exercises in arranging tableaux and dramatizing scenes from 
assigned reading. 

4. Definite correlation of the school or class dramatics with the 
regular work in literature and public speaking, recognizing 
always, of course, that such productions must be thoroughly 
entertaining if they are not to defeat their own educational 
purpose. 

5. Some consecutive study, preferably in the upper classes, of 
the development of the drama, with definite consideration 
of the relation of the contemporary drama to literature and 
to society. 

6. Encouragement and supervision of attendance on dramatic en- 
tertainments, with a view to discussion of values and with 
special reference to the problem of developing the pupils’ 
taste by utilizing their manifest natural interest, 


C. The committee recognizes the fact that teachers (especially outside 
of the city schools) may find it difficult to adopt some of these 
measures, through (1) lack of special training, (2) lack of oppor- 
tunity to study the acted drama, and (3) lack of a suitable 


94 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


library. It is none the less desirable to adopt these standards 
and to attempt to meet the special problems as they arise. 


D. The committee feels that in teaching drama in the schools one should 
plan the work so as to take advantage of the natural interest 
of the pupils and to preserve in their minds an active sense of 
the vitality of the art. 


COMMITTEE oF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ‘TEACHERS OF 
SprecH ON CouRSES OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING AND 
Pusiic SPEAKING FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 


A. M. Drummond, Cornell University, Chairman. 


James M. O’Neill, University of Wisconsin. 

James A. Winans, Dartmouth College. 

Charles H. Woolbert, University of Illinois. 

Glenn N. Merry, Chairman Joint Committee on American 
Speech. 

J. L. Lardner, Northwestern University. 

Howard S. Woodward, Western Reserve University. 

Harry B. Gough, DePauw University. 

Wilbur Jones Kay, West Virginia University. 

Ray K. Immel, University of Southern California. 

William Tilly, Columbia University. 

Smiley Blanton, Minneapolis Child Guidance Clinic. 

Edwin B. Richards, New York State Department of 
Education. 

Clarence Stratton, Cleveland Public Schools. 

Irving Pichel, University of California. 

Lee E. Bassett, Stanford University. 

Henrietta Prentiss, Hunter College of the City of New York. 

Sarah T. Barrows, University of Iowa. 

Clarence D. Thorpe, University of Oregon. 

Philip M. Hicks, Swarthmore College. 

W. M, Parrish, University of Pittsburgh. 





A COURSE OF STUDY IN SPEECH TRAINING — 25 


Alma Bullowa, New York City. 

Hoyt H. Hudson, Swarthmore College. 

Daniel W. Redmond, College of the City of New York. 
Andrew T. Weaver, University of Wisconsin. 

Harry Caplan, Cornell University. 

Giles W. Gray, University of Iowa. 

Russell H. Wagner, Iowa State College. 

Lee S. Hultzén, Washington University. 

William E. Utterback, Dartmouth College. 

G. Rowland Collins, New York University. 

Davis Edwards, University of Chicago. 

Edward C. Mabie, University of Iowa. 

Maud May Babcock, University of Utah. 

James S. Gaylord, Northwestern University. 

E. L. Hunt, Cornell University. 

Bertha F. Herring, Chicago Publie Schools. 

France Berry, Robinson (Illinois) High School. 

Robert E. Williams, DePauw University. 

Ben Hanley, Tulane University. 

Claudia Crumpton, Hutchins (Detroit) School. 
Lousene Rousseau, Michigan Western State Normal School. 
J. Walter Reeves, Peddie School. 

Martha W. Doyle, Chester (Pennsylvania) High School. 
Ralph Chapel, Akron High School. 


Helen Keane, Cornell University, Secretary. 


The editor acknowledges the interest and advice of W. 
Wilbur Hatfield, Editor of the English Journal, and the 
assistance of his colleagues, H. A. Wichelns, Harry Caplan, 
C. K, Thomas, A. L. Woehl, and Lee S. Hultzen. 


eC Rios 


Pat Wa Sita 
Ee oe ve OM ae we 


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4 





SPECIAL ARTICLES 





COMMUNICATION THE BASIC PRINCIPLE 


HARRY CAPLAN 
Cornell University 


Even the age of Cicero, we learn from the introduction of 
his treatise on Rhetorical Invention, knew how language as a 
communicative force first became the instrument of civiliza- 
tion. How largely our civilized life to-day depends on the 
social exchange of ideas through language and speech is 
readily perceived. To humanity destitute of the power of 
rational intercourse through speech, reason, as Blair says, 
would be a solitary and unavailable principle; in fact we are 
indebted for the improvement of thought itself to this transfer 
of ideas. As the adjunct and vehicle of reason, language is 
our greatest social power. Especially true is this of the 
rhetorical use of language, for rhetoric in its broadest meaning 
is the branch of human activity concerned with the com- 
municative relationship of individuals in society; in its nar- 
rower sense it differs from the other arts of self-expression, 
such as music, painting, sculpture, both in its medium and 
in the emphasis upon the social aspect. Public discourse, 
oral or written—for rhetorical principles apply to the one as 
to the other—must always be studied as a communicative art, 
so long as men inhabit civilized communities, and so long as 
men ‘‘discuss statements and maintain them, defend them- 
selves and attack others.’’ 

Public speaking derives its regulative principles from logic. 
But it deals not merely with thought uttered but rather with 
thought communicated. This distinction may be called the 

29 


30 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Special Law of Public Speaking, as being its essential and 
primary characteristic. Whether we consult utility or in- 
terest, we must study how to convey our thoughts to the best 
advantage, how to impress them on an audience, on the as- 
sumption that language is a social bond and has a dynamic 
effect. Discussion, whereby we arrive at truth or expediency 
or decision or action, implies a contact of mind. And what- 
ever psychological terminology is employed in defining this 
contact, it has been most usefully analyzed in terms of at- 
tention. 

This concept of public address as an art of communication 
is not merely to be regarded as a scientific explanation of a 
process, but must be adopted as a working principle in con- 
scious accordance with which the writer of public discourse 
or the public speaker should proceed in every step from the 
beginning of his preparation for a Speech to its delivery. All 
men continually are engaged in communication; the purpose 
of the art is to teach how better to communicate. Let us see 
how the underlying and basic tenet functions throughout the 
parts of rhetorical procedure: in the classical nomenclature, 
invention, disposition, formation of style, and presentation. 

The good speaker must keep this law in mind from the 
very selection of the subject. He will find himself considering 
shat he has something to Say, not infinitively and absolutely, 
but something to say to his special audience, something that 
is worth listening to and that fulfils the needs of his audience; 
and a subject which should arouse in him the impulse to share 
his thought and emotion with others. Inherent in his subject 
must be the stimulus to what Emerson terms the talker’s 
‘energy and heat”’ impelling him to communicate. 

In reviewing what ideas he has on the subject chosen and 

*The general principle applies equally to all types of training in 


speech: to reading, in the oral interpretation of literature to an audi- 
ence; to dramatics; and to correction of defective speech. 


COMMUNICATION THE BASIC PRINCIPLE 31 


in gathering material on it, the Special Law dictates that he 
seek such ideas as are fit to be transmitted and communicated 
under the conditions. In other words, the Law should operate 
continually through the period of invention, the period of 
discovery of ‘‘the right thought communicable.’’ It is involved 
in the questions he must ask himself concerning the interests 
of his audience in order to gain their attention, the motives 
in them to which he must appeal, in fact all the modes of re- 
sponse of individuals and groups as treated in good text books. 
This is the department—the study of how to impress the 
minds of your hearers—which Quintilian regards as requiring 
ereat technical ability. This is what Cicero means when he 
tells us that the true end of speaking is determined by the 
audience. Aristotle thinks the communicative principle so 
important and infixed in the art that he guides the speaker in 
a profound psychological study of the emotions by which an 
audience can be stirred. This is what the author of the 
Roman rhetorical treatise to Herennius has in mind when he 
advises the speaker to bend all his efforts to make his audience 
‘‘favorable, attentive, and teachable.’’ This is implied in the 
accepted definition of persuasive speaking as speaking in- 
ducing fair, favorable, or undivided attention to a subject. 
So, too, the selected ideas are developed and arranged by 
the good speaker in a manner best adapted for communication 
to his hearers or readers. From our perspective, then, struc- 
tural emphasis and unity are organically related to this proper 
concept of the speaker’s art. It is useful and sound, following 
Scott, to regard unity and most of the other structural quali- 
ties of discourse, not as primary and original, but rather as 
the natural outcome of the interaction of the individual and 
society in the process of communication. Hence the outline 
will fittingly be distinguished in its purpose and function from 
the brief. Whereas the latter will serve as a treasury from 
which he may draw matter for any speech on the subject, the 


32 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


outline will, in general scheme and in every item, serve as a 
persuasive plan for the particular speech on the particular 
occasion and before the particular audience. Thus also in 
the verbal expression of his ideas will the speaker artistically 
adjust his style to the accomplishment of his purpose with 
those he addresses. Clearness and appropriateness as rhetori- 
cal factors are notions of relationship with an audience. 
Simple and direct style is good style, not because it transforms 
a subject into an objective thing of severe beauty, but be- 
cause it is most communicative, and thereby the audience is 
best made to listen and feel the force of the argument. Form 
is developed only in subordination to the purpose of response, 
If the speaker keeps clearly in mind that he is to address 
a certain type of hearer to gain certain results, very probably 
he will not only make the proper selection and arrangement 
of material but also adopt a style of composition suitable for 
the platform, whether his purpose be to interest, inform, 
convince, or persuade. 

Very probably also, he will speak in a direct manner. Per- 
haps the failure to appreciate this is more responsible than 
any other cause for failure to speak well, particularly in 
delivery. Even the presence of good ideas, the good use of 
vocal technique, the possession of a seemingly conversational 
delivery may not prevent failure if the speech be not genuinely 
communicative in every part of its development. Just as 
conversational delivery is not necessarily good if enunciation, - 
pronunciation, and other elements are not good, so these 
adjunct elements can never, even when well developed, make 
a speech successful if there is no real communication in de- 
livery. Finally therefore in presentation, perfect communi- 
cation takes the form of appropriate speech and action so 
that the audience may feel the force of the ideas communi- 
cated, in short, that the process of communication may be 


COMMUNICATION THE BASIC PRINCIPLE 33 


complete. How conversational quality, the essence of good 
delivery, should be developed and accentuated, on the sound 
principle that speaking in public is a normal form of com- 
municative behavior, is treated in a separate article in this 
volume. The mental and physical elements involved in con- 
versational quality may not be obtained apart from stress on 
the communicative idea. It is not safe to say that this 
identity of conversational quality with a sense of communica- 
tion on the part of the speaker with his hearers has been 
well understood by teachers of public speaking—that truth 
still needs stressing. But there can be no doubt that too often 
have the demands of communication been limited to delivery. 

Effective mastery in this succession of steps, here cur- 
sorily treated, is made possible by technical training. In 
brief, sustaining the attention on the oneness of the rhetorical 
process with communication is equivalent to keeping the 
audience ever in mind. Familiar with the view of his art 
as one of expression, the speaker should remember that 
it is equally an art of impression. Scott rightly maintains 
that any speech is best regarded as the product and meeting- 
place of two impulses: the desire of the individual to express 
himself in a certain definite way to an audience and the 
demand of the social mind of the audience for a certain definite 
kind of communication. 

The thesis here presented is universally true whether one 
conceives of public speaking as Plato’s art of ruling men or 
as a simple process of inducing others to give fair attention 
to an everyday proposition. One may wisely accept Blair’s 
dictum that to be truly eloquent is to speak to the purpose. 
To us public speaking is a communicative, instrumental, 
rather than a fine, art. 

Since public speaking is a social instrument, the classroom 
will desirably reproduce, so far as possible, the spirit of the 


34 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


normal situations of public address as they occur in life. 
Criticisms on the part of class or teacher, consequently, will 
likewise be based on the student’s success or failure in his 
purpose of communication. 


THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF SPEECH 
TRAINING 


CHARLES H. WOOLBERT 
University of Illinois 


The teaching of speech occupies a unique place among 
academic disciplines, as it is primarily an enterprise in ex- 
pression rather than impression. It tests the pupil by what 
he can do more than by what he is assumed to know. So if 
expression is one of the ultimate objects of education, speech 
training as a disciplinary method must be ranked high in 
educational value. 

The conventional lists of disciplines in our high schools— 
mathematics, history, languages, physical sciences—have been 
historically concerned with the psychology of absorption; 
they are based primarily upon apprehension, comprehension, 
and retention, the result of a tradition that conceives educa- 
tion as a process of pouring material into molds or into reser- 
voirs. Despite the modern tendencies to insist that education 
is not a process of filling up empty spaces but one of increas- 
ing one’s powers, these traditional disciplines, as taught 
almost anywhere, are still primarily tasks in addition— 
addition to the sum total of a present store. They aim to 
fill the fuel bins rather than turn the machinery. 

These traditional disciplines are therefore chiefly interested 
in two general enterprises as educational methods: first, read- 
ing books and, second, listening to lectures, discussions, and 
explanations. At times and in places this storage process is 
relieved by adventures in expression such as solving problems, 

30 


36 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


writing papers, forming conclusions and judgments. Yet the 
common tendency with such subjects is for the teacher to 
place a major emphasis upon absorption, upon the taking 
in and storing of facts rather than upon giving out. 

This traditional mood in education has been severely at- 
tacked of late by the psychological declaration that there can 
be no real impression without some form of expression; that 
is to say, that nothing is learned by absorption alone, that 
whatever is genuinely learned becomes a part of one’s acting 
nature in some form of expression; nothing comes in unless 
something goes out. This conforms to the. psychology of 
William James when he teaches that no impression is made 
unless it actually does something to the body, that to receive 
an impression is equivalent to having a muscular or glandular 
reaction of some kind, that so-called mental process is also 
bodily process or activity ; a mental event thus is always also 
a bodily event. This psychology is received now with almost 
universal approval. Its implications go deep into educational 
theory, and it is creating a veritable revolution in teaching 
methods. Arithmetic thus should be studied not merely to 
store up knowledge of arithmetic, but to enable one to do 
arithmetic. Physics cannot be taught well unless the pupil 
is enabled to do physics. We do not learn chemistry so much 
as we learn to do chemistry—and similarly to do botany, to 
do languages. 

The hardest place to apply this doctrine is in studies aimed 
at appreciation and a sense of values, especially literature 
and history. We readily see how the teaching of composition 
teaches the pupils to do writing; but it is not so easy to per- 
ceive that the only legitimate purpose of the teaching of 
literature and history is to teach the pupil to do literature and 
to do history. Hither of these subjects taught by the storage 
method is now regarded as of poor educational value. The 
boy or girl who merely knows the data of history is far from 


PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF SPEECH TRAINING — 37 


a historian; likewise the boy or girl who merely knows about 
literature and literary folk is far from being literary. To do 
history aright, one must have that form of expression which 
can be described as the ability to evaluate historical data, 
reason historically, and use history for social and civic think- 
ing. To do literature successfully one must be able to criticize 
judiciously, compare and relate literary data, and to convert 
literary knowledge into a skill for one’s daily living. When 
these subjects are taught so as to secure such forms of ex- 
pression, they conform, to modern psychological notions. 
When taught otherwise they are out of step with present 
tendencies; they are educationally futile in proportion as 
they aim at impression divorced from expression. 

Another way of stating the difference between these two 
educational ideas is that when teaching is primarily for im- 
pression the great focus is upon books, and that he is the 
best educated man who has been most exposed to books and 
bookish influences. Books and reading become the touchstone 
of educational success. This idea even goes so far as to assume 
that in books is found the best of life and that the book- 
reading person is 7pso facto the ideal output of our educational 
system; to prove yourself educated, know and talk about 
what others have written. Yet under this mood there is 
confusion between the ‘‘educated’’ person and the person who 
is only ‘‘learned.’’ The learned man is by some supposed 
to be more and better educated than the one not learned. 
Thus the academically-minded person, the bookish person, is 
assumed to be a finer output of our educational system than 
the person who leads or administers or builds or legislates. 
Under this principle individual capacity is largely estimated 
in terms of wide reading and knowledge of material from 
books. 

Under the opposite theory of education, however, the theory 
which gives primary emphasis to expression, wide reading of 


388 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


books as the index of education is supplemented by personal 
capacity. Under this mood the educated person is the one 
who in a broad and general way best fits into the life around 
him. He must of course be able to read wisely, broadly, and 
well, and must be able to profit by what he reads; but in 
addition to the fruits of his reading and his study he must 
have the capacity for taking part in the world’s general 
affairs. If he is in academic circles, he must be able to convey 
to others the benefits of his reading and study. If he is in 
business, he must be able to meet men easily and fairly and 
must be able not only to carry his own point but to adapt 
himself to other men trying to carry theirs. In the ministry 
he performs all his pastoral and ecclesiastical services with 
ease and even with a certain distinction; preaching, leading, 
visiting, comforting, helping. In the law he not only does 
his office work well, but handles his clients and his cases with 
precision and a firm touch. So with any line of activity, even 
those as far removed from libraries and studies as rearing 
buildings, laying railroads, or fabricating stuffs and goods. 

It is in this new mood of expression as the best test of 
educational value that the discipline of speech is and must 
be grounded. For in all the activities just mentioned a crucial 
factor is that of facing others in speech. Success in the affairs 
of life, whether business or social, is to a high degree de- 
pendent upon one’s ability to meet other people face to face. 
This problem can be characterized by the one word, con- 
frontation. We could almost divide education into three 
general headings: absorption, individual expression, and. so- 
cialized expression. That is to say, as listeners we do three 
things: we grasp ideas; we do things within ourselves or by 
ourselves ; and then we make our way and place by our ability 
to get on among other people. In all cases the educational 
process, to be valid and valuable, must show a final socialized 
expression. 


PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF SPEECH TRAINING 39 


In speech training we find a discipline in which, more 
than in any other, socialized expression can be taught and 
made effective. As in other disciplines, there must of course 
be reading—in fact there is no reading or no knowledge which 
is not valuable to the person who wishes to be a better speaker. 
Also there must be assimilation, adjustment, and the use of 
speech upon others, and because speech is in essence confronta- 
tion, and confrontation is to an extent the final touch in 
educational method, it becomes one of the capstones of the 
educational problem. Wherever speech is taught as a venture 
in social adjustment, it comes close to rounding out and mak- 
ing effectual all other school disciplines. Knowledge of his- 
tory, mathematics, literature, or any other subject is of little 
worth to the world when bottled up; nor is it worth much 
to the person who, though possessing, cannot express it. The 
chief value of any such knowledge is in the ability to use it 
for adjustment with other people. If you do not know arith- 
metic or physics or history well enough to tell it to other 
people—to use it in your relations with them—you do not 
know it very well. Thus speech as confrontation has two 
important educational implications: (1) it is a rounding out 
of other disciplines, and (2) its methods of emphasizing ex- 
pression point clearly to the most valuable of educational 
ideals. 

The various branches of speech training show how this 
works out. The largest problem in speech training is the 
problem of effective everyday talk, private speaking as against 
speaking in public. It is our commonest medium of social 
exchange. It is primarily an enterprise in doing, yet deeply 
dependent upon our past reading and our past mastery of self. 
It must be taught almost solely as a problem in expression, 
it eannot be taught by the storehouse process. It rests flatly 
upon the assumption that if there is an inlet at all there is 
an outlet also, or the complementary assumption that if the 


40 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


outlet is successful the inlet must also be present. It is a clear 
exposition of the income-outgo theory of education encouraged 
by modern psychology. 

Oral reading, whether from a book or from memory, follows 
the same rules. The ultimate object is expression, a clear and 
easily seen case of doing, wherein outward expression is in- 
expressibly linked with impression and adjustment. Speaking 
in public is just as manifest a case, as is also reading for 
artistic interpretation, impersonation, and acting. All are 
eases of doing, yet are dependent upon the preceding processes 
of impression and personal adjustment. 

In a strikingly justifiable sense speech training is training 
in personality. Vague as that term is, still it suggests always 
one’s powers of expression; bodily carriage, movement of 
head, arms, hands, torso; richness and flexibility of voice; 
mastery of language; fertility, timeliness, and fitness of con- 
cepts, ideas, feelings, and attitudes—the outward marks of 
an inward grace, the expression of one’s selfhood, the revela- 
tion of one’s character and even of the soul itself. And the 
aim of training in personality must always be stated in terms 
of richness of life, social adaptability, and ability to take 
one’s part in the life of the race. 


ENDS AND MEANS IN ELEMENTARY SPEECH 
HDUCATION 


ANDREW THOMAS WEAVER 


University of Wisconsin 


Speech is primarily a means of communication. It is a 
two-sided or a two-ended process involving a speaker and a 
person or persons to whom the speaking is addressed. The 
person spoken to is an observer as well as a listener. Speech 
is a code made up of visible and audible symbols—both 
integral elements of the same thing. Speech issues from but 
does not consist in ideas, concepts, feelings, emotions, desires, 
attitudes, and purposes. It is made up of: 


(a) Visible physical attitudes and activities, and 
(b) Audible tones, rhythms, modulations, and conven- 
tionalized phonic units constituting spoken language. 


Speech is not thought and emotion close as its interconnec- 
tions with these may be. Speech is an instrument for making 
the speaker’s thoughts and emotions significant for others; 
it is the most highly developed and potent agency at man’s 
command for causing others to behave as he wants them to 
behave; it is designed to adjust man to his social environment 
by modifying and controlling the environment; it is in reality 
a mode of life. 

What then should speech training be? It should be to 
speech exactly what training in telegraphy is to telegraphy. 
Fundamentally it involves: 

41 


42 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


(a) Learning the code, and 
(b) Acquiring skill in the use of the code. 


When pupils come into speech training classes they already 
know the speech code fairly well. The task of the teacher of 
speech is, therefore, to help the pupil in acquiring maximum 
efficiency in speaking. Training in speech is essentially train- 
ing in a very high and complex type of social adjustment. 

Here it may be interposed that the whole school curriculum 
is aimed at social adjustment. So far as so-called ‘‘thought 
training’’ is concerned, including the development of socially 
desirable attitudes, purposes, ideals, etc., speech training has 
no more and no less responsibility for the success of the edu- 
cational process than has History, Mathematics, or Science. 
Speech training must justify itself on two counts if its place 
in the school is to be unchallenged and secure. First, it must 
contribute to the general ends of education, and second, it 
must make a peculiar characteristic contribution not made 
elsewhere. 

There are two mistaken notions which have been held and 
are still held by some teachers of speech. There is the idea 
that speech training, when properly attended to, is the whole 
of education. Then there is the reverse of this in the view 
that speech training is an unimportant incidental in educa- 
tion. The good teacher of speech will avoid both these 
extremes. 3 

So much by way of a general introductory statement. The 
remainder of this paper will consist of more or less specific 
suggestions on eight topics related to the effective teaching of 
speech. These topics are: 


 E The Teacher and the Teaching Situation. 
II. The Textbook. 

III. Speech Training as Reéducation. 

IV. Individual Differences Among Pupils. 


ELEMENTARY SPEECH EDUCATION 43 


Ve Fundamental Speech Training Prerequisite to Train- 
ing in Advanced or Specialized Types of Speaking. 

VI. Adequate Attention to Action and Voice. 

VII. Knowledge and Skill as Inseparable Objectives. 

VIII. Preliminary Practice and Public Performance. 


I. The Teacher and the Teaching Situation 


The teacher of speech should have the same general edu- 
cational background as that which is expected of teachers 
in other fields, and should be using the discipline of speech 
training as a means in education and not as an end in itself. 
In addition to adequate general educational preparation, the 
teacher of speech must have special professional training equal 
to that looked for in teachers of other subjects. 

The trained and competent teacher of speech must be 
allowed to organize and conduct the work in speech education 
free from intermeddling by administrators who are not ex- 
perts in the speech field. It must be assumed that so far as 
objectives and methods in speech education are concerned, 
the speech teacher knows what he is about and that he can 
never work effectively under constant surveillance and inter- 
ference which bespeak doubt as to his competence. This 
point cannot be overemphasized. 

If speech training is to be worth while, there must be a 
fair amount of time available for it. Under ordinary circum- 
stances, it is folly to organize a course in speech unless the 
class can meet for the equivalent of five times a week for at 
least one full year. 

The work should be so arranged as to make for careful 
classification of pupils according to their stage of develop- 
ment and their special needs. Children with speech disorders 
should have treatment at the hands of specialists and should 
never be enrolled in regular speech classes with normal pupils. 
Speech classes should not be large; in most cases from fifteen 


44 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


to twenty is the best number. Many difficulties will arise 
from putting first, second, third, and fourth year pupils to- 
gether in classes. The groups should be as homogeneous as 
possible. 


Il. The Textbook 


A gatisfactory textbook is well-nigh indispensable. The 
teacher should select the best textbook available and then 
require the pupils to know and understand what is between 
its covers. Obviously, pupils need not accept every statement 
in the textbook if they have reasons for disagreeing, but they 
— should be held to strict accountability for a knowledge of the 
book’s contents. 

The teacher should beware of three kinds of textbooks: 


A. Those containing too many absolute rules not verifiable 
in the pupil’s everyday experience. Many books are 
filled with dogmatic principles which do not stand 
careful inspection. In the advice found in such texts 
there is some absurdity and a great deal of unfortu- 
nate rigidity. There is too much of “‘never’’ and 
too little of ‘‘seldom’’; too much of ‘‘always’’ and too 
little of ‘‘usually.’’ Nothing is to be gained by insist- 
ing upon the observance of alleged laws which may be 
and are disregarded with impunity by experienced 
speakers. 


B. Textbooks replete with silly twaddle and patent ab- 
surdities. As instances, note the following from re- 
cent textbooks: 

(a) Advice on breathing: ‘‘The first precaution is to 
keep the mouth shut.’’ 

(b) ‘‘In reciting, put your pictures to one side and 
let your eyes flit back and forth between them 
and your audience.”’ 


ELEMENTARY SPEECH EDUCATION 45 


(c) “Always let your face display a genial ex- 
pression. ’’ 

(d) An author defines gesture as any movement of 
facial muscles, hands, arms, trunk, legs, or feet, 
capable of expressing thought or feeling—and 
then promptly announces as the first law of 
gesture: ‘‘All gestures should be made from 
the chest as a center.’’ 


C. Textbooks which lay down wrong and pernicious princi- 
ples with respect to fundamentally important mat- 
ters, @. g.: | 
(a) “‘Do not give yourself much concern about the 

vocal side of the presentation.’’ 

(b) ‘‘Beginners should beware of gestures until they 
have become such practised masters of their 
minds and bodies that physical emphasis may 
be added to spoken force.’’ 

(ce) ‘The speaker should as a rule exhaust his vocal 
resources before resorting to gesture.”’ 


III. Speech Traimng as Reéducation 


The speech of boys and girls in high school is made up of 
well-established, deeply set, complex habits. Every educator 
can bear testimony to the stubborn resistance with which bad 
habits always meet attempts to change them. Speech habits 
involving postural tensions, laryngeal, pharyngeal, and lingual 
movements and muscular behavior in general are deeply set 
and not susceptible to speedy modification. Long and arduous 
is the road to improved speech. Old habits have to be rooted 
up and new ones planted and nurtured in their place. The 
wise teacher will not expect to transform his pupils in one 
course and he will not permit his pupils to expect to be trans- 
formed. Blessed is the teacher who anticipates modest 
changes, for he shall not be disappointed! 


46 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


The first great service of speech reéducation is helping 
pupils to see and hear themselves as others see and hear them. 
Ear training is often badly needed. Vocal slovenliness is 
frequently the child of auditory inattention and sometimes 
of auditory deficiency. Pupils should be trained to observe 
voices (their own and others), to detect modulations, and 
to produce them. The dictaphone is a great help in this work. 
The Seashore tests of musical talent may be given with great 
profit. 

All this is quite apart from the question as to whether or 
not the ability to discriminate between sounds can be im- 
proved. In any ease, pupils should be taught to use whatever 
powers of discrimination they may have. They should be 
made conscious of sounds and attentive to characteristic dif- 
ferences, particularly in the field of vocal sounds. 


IV. Individual Differences Among Pupils 


In no field of human behavior are the differences among 
individuals of greater magnitude and significance than they 
are in speech. All educational efforts should be grounded 
upon a careful and searching inventory of the individual 
pupil’s native equipment. Facts as to the nature and extent 
of individual differences in the speech classroom serve as 
valuable aids in formulating teaching procedure. 

How are these facts to be revealed? Standard intelligence 
tests may be useful. The written questionnaire will bring in 
valuable data. One secondary school teacher of speech had 
each pupil write for her what she called a “‘truth paper.’’ In 
this paper the pupil was asked to furnish frank, honest, and 
confidential answers to many rather personal questions. 

Each teacher can readily design a list of questions which 
will bring out what he most desires to know. There is of 
course no substitute for personal conferences with individual 
pupils. 


ELEMENTARY SPEECH EDUCATION 47 


When the teacher has come into as full an appreciation as 
possible of the personalities in his classroom, the work of the 
group should be arranged so that each pupil may have the 
maximum opportunity for growth and development. The 

attempt to apply the doctrine of equality results in much 
~ educational malpractice ; it forces all pupils, weak and strong, 
bright and dull, into the same vicious lock-step. Leveling 
down and leveling up are both unsatisfactory. The normal 
effect of training is to increase native differences among 
pupils. Hach pupil should be kept busy in his highest po- 
tential level of achievement; if he is allowed to work on a 
lower level, growth is stopped. If potential sculptors are 
permitted to work long as stone masons, they will probably 
never chisel marble statues. 


V. Fundamental Speech Training as the Prerequisite to 
Tranng in Specialized or Advanced Types of Speaking 


Whenever possible, our first concern should be with the 
fundamental principles of speech—those principles common 
to all speaking and reading whether formal or informal, 
public or private. It is indefensible pedagogy to begin the 
study of any subject with its more complex and intricate 
phases. This principle does not preclude the use of public 
speaking, interpretative reading, dramatics, debating, ete., 
as media. However, we should seek first the development of 
a skill which is fundamental to them all. 


VI. Adequate Attention to Action and Voice 


One of the principal objectives of the entire school curricu- 
lum is the development of the pupil’s ability to think. Each 
subject in the curriculum bears its share of responsibility for 
the attainment of this objective. Here speech training has a 
significant contribution to make; for in the speech classroom 


48 SPHECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


the pupil’s thought powers may be subjected to tests of reality 
and effectiveness not easily applied in other courses. 

Upon the English department rests the prime responsibility 
for the pupil’s mastery of language. But the speech depart- 
ment makes a significant contribution here also by stressing 
good language habits in general and good oral language habits 
in particular. : 

Yet the peculiar, characteristic contribution of Speech 
training, not made elsewhere in the curriculum, lies in the 
field of action and voice. The speech teacher should not be 
concerned with thought and language exclusively ; he should 
also give adequate attention to matters of action and voice— 
the visible and audible symbols of speech. 

The learning of speech is essentially the comprehensive 
process of developing control over all of the muscles by the 
use of which we may produce the visible and audible symbols 
which make our meanings perceptible and explicit. All too 
frequently the thought and language phases of speech absorb 
the attention of the teacher to the complete exclusion of the 
action and voice phases. When this happens, speech training 
fails to make its unique contribution to the process of 
education. 

There is a valid objection to limiting Speech courses to 
‘Oral English,’’ and ‘‘Oral Composition.’’ ‘‘Oral’’ makes 
the mouth seem all-important in speech and ignores the visible 
part of speech. And, as Professor Winans once remarked, 
these titles are likely to connote an essay standing on its hind 
legs. The merit of such courses may be conceded, but they 
are not well-rounded speech courses. 

When possible, speech training should begin with principles 
and exercises designed to give the pupil a general mastery of 
the speech instrument, 7. e. the whole body. The visible sym- 
bols of speech develop as the first means of communication. 


EKLEMENTARY SPEECH EDUCATION 49 


There are three reasons why speech training should begin 
with general muscular control: 


A. Without a controlled body, a satisfactory voice is prac- 
tically impossible ; for skill in the use of vocal muscles 
comes only as a part of general muscular control. 

B, Thinking in speech can be carried on only when a general 
muscular control has been established. 

C. Without control of bodily movement the speaker is shut 
off from the use of the visible signals which constitute 
the basis of all effective speech. 


Now some one may be fearful lest this counsel should en- 
courage the revival of that dreadful educational anomaly— 
élocution. The trouble with elocution was never in its objec- 
tive; it was in its unscientific approach. Its cardinal blunder 
was its detachment from the rest of the curriculum. It is of 
paramount importance that speech should be taught by in- 
telligent educators and properly codrdinated with all other 
courses in the curriculum. The teacher who makes it his 
guiding purpose to train his pupils in the science and art 
of effective communication through the use of speech symbols 
can never be guilty of the absurdities which brought the old 
elocution under condemnation. 


VII. Knowledge and Skill as Inseparable Objectives 


Saying that in the teaching of speech, action and voice 
should be emphasized, does not mean that our work should be 
restricted to drilling our pupils on exercises to improve their 
speech. A speech course should always have a double content : 


First, we have significant facts and principles to teach as 
matters of knowledge; and 
Second, we are to give training in the application of these 


50 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


facts and principles to the practical problems of read- 
ing and speaking. 


Speech teachers too often have felt embarrassed to have 
any one catch them teaching facts and principles. If the 
principal or the superintendent comes into the classroom 
unexpectedly and finds the speech teacher behaving as a 
teacher of science, or mathematics, the speech teacher feels 
impelled to terminate such reprehensible conduct and calls 
Johnny Jones or Clara Smith to the platform to work in a 
‘practical’? way. They have meekly accepted the notion that 
the whole duty of the teacher of speech is to coach pupils. 

Knowledge is indispensable as a basis for intelligent criti- 
cism of technique in any art. The teacher of speech should 
know and teach the pupil what he must learn if he is to be 
an intelligent self-critic. 


VIII. Preliminary Practice and Public Performance 


In speech training we must always distinguish between 
preliminary practice and public performance; between drill 
and actual speaking. In preliminary practice many things 
may be done which would be quite out of place in public per- 
formance. In drill periods the student is learning how to do 
through trial and error under helpful, constructive criticism. 
He is acquiring a repertoire, building a technique, getting 
ready to speak. Conscious attention may often be focused 
upon the means which are being tried—how the task of com- 
munication is being accomplished. 

In actual speaking—artistie effort—the conscious attention 
of the speaker is upon meanings, purposes, communication. 
The speaker is now speaking—not learning to speak. He is 
now allowing his speech habits to function freely and only 
those habits which have become second nature can play their 
part in actual speaking. It takes an immense amount of drill 


ELEMENTARY SPEECH EDUCATION o1 


to establish such habits. In actual speaking the conscious at- 
tention of the speaker is upon what rather than upon how. 
Hiram Corson sums up the matter when he says: 

‘All true culture to be true, must be unconscious of the 
process which induced it. But before it is attained, one must 
be more or less under the law until he becomes a law to him- 
self, and does spontaneously and unconsciously what he once 
had to do consciously and with effort.’’ 


CONVERSATIONAL QUALITY IN DELIVERY 


RUSSELL H. WAGNER 
Iowa State College 


The individual’s normal way of communicating ideas is 
in conversation. The high school student may lack oram- 
matical sense, may have a bad vocal quality, may have 
commonplace ideas. But his speech in conversation is quite 
free from strain and artifice; is, essentially, genuine and nor- 
mal. If this conversational speech is defective or inferior, as 
it often is, it should be normalized and improved without 
violating its nature. As regards private speech it is obvious 
that conversation creates the standard, and is both point of 
departure and end in training for improvement. 

But the teacher of speaking has also the problem of train- 
ing for effective speaking in public. Indeed all his work 
must stand what may be called a public test. So many mis- 
conceptions surround the whole idea of public speaking, that 
it may be profitable to consider at some length the meaning 
of such statements as: conversation is the norm of all speak- 
ing, whether public or private; conversational quality is the 
essential quality of public delivery; training for speaking 
must make the preservation of this quality its beginning and 
find in the development of this quality its end.1 


* By conversational quality we do not mean conversational manner, 
style, mode, or mood. Nor do we mean the phonetic patterns of con- 
versational speech-sounds and intonations. Persons converse in widely 
different situations which influence attitude, verbal style, and emotional 
color: their manner of speech may differ in each situation, but in each 


02 


CONVERSATIONAL QUALITY IN DELIVERY 53 


Allowing its necessary presence in reading, recitation, 
dramatic interpretation, and other forms of public delivery 
to be inferred, let us consider specifically conversational qual- 
ity in public address, and view the problem of delwery as 
fundamentally a problem in conversing with an audience. 

We might first mention the two general types of speaking 
which are ineffective because they are distinctly not conver- 
sational. First, there is speaking which gives the impression 
that it is not the speaker’s own way of expressing his ideas. 
He seems to be imitating a favorite orator, his minister, his 
teacher, or a mental image of his idea of good speaking—an 
image so complexly conceived that its origins are quite un- 
discoverable. The speaker is, in short, expressing his own 
ideas with the voice, emotion, and gesture of another. Whether 
or not these are good or bad in the original or in the ab- 
stract, they are fundamentally false for him. 

A second major fault, perhaps more usual than the fault 
of imitation, is the lack of direct communication with the 
audience. There is in such speaking no challenge to the at- 


they speak with conversational quality. A man may speak in many 
different manners during the day: reproving his child, discussing with 
his wife the merits of the new cook, hailing his neighbor on the street, 
dictating to his secretary, addressing a jury, speaking of a friend sud- 
denly dead, reading from the Psalms at evening prayers—but in all 
these moods speak with conversational quality. The conversational styles 
of temperaments like Roscoe Conkling ’s or Webster’s are as dignified and 
elevated as their public utterances. On the other hand, to persons hear- 
ing Wendell Phillips for the first time, he seemed only a gentleman talk- 
ing, till suddenly they discovered that they were sitting on the edge of 
their seats gripped by his eloquence. So one interpreting the Ghost 
in Hamlet will speak as a ghost, and the voice of God speaking to Job 
will reflect the sublimity of His person, but neither will lack the com- 
municative quality of speech which we call conversational. The standard 
of delivery which we are discussing is therefore that thought-conveying 
quality of speech which so obviously gives life to conversation and which, 
therefore, we may best call the conversational quality. 


04 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


tention of the audience. As the speaker does not engage its 
attention, the audience has little interest in the speaker’s 
ideas; it feels no call to be concerned with them; there is no 
mental response of approval or disapproval. In effect the 
speaker is talking to himself. 

So fundamental are these two faults that ‘‘technical’’ ex- 
cellence will not compensate for them. In fact, ‘‘technical’’ 
excellence often emphasizes these major faults. On the other 
hand, numberless crudities will not render wholly ineffective 
the speaker who expresses his thoughts vividly in his own 
way and is in communicative contact with his audience. Such 
a speaker has no art. His speaking is only his earnest, ani- 
mated talking. He is conversational. 

There are, of course, differences between ordinary conver- 
sation and public speaking. But most of them are only seem- 
ing differences. All of them are non-essential—are only ac- 
commodations to conditions which sometimes, indeed usually, 
obtain in public, but conditions which are not essentially 
unlike those of conversation. The public speaker, it may 
be urged, speaks louder, does all the talking, prepares care- 
fully, may be more emotional. But such differences (and 
many others which will suggest themselves) are in degree, not 
in kind. If you speak to a friend at a little distance or 
above the noise of the street, you must raise your voice, 
though you do not therefore make a speech. You prepare 
as carefully for an important conversation with a prospec- 
tive employer or for an oral examination as for a speech. 
No orator ever prepared his addresses more carefully than 
Oscar Wilde his conversations. And of course persons are 
constantly being called on, or volunteer, to speak in publie 
gatherings without formal preparation. Generally a public 
speaker talks uninterruptedly, but to this rule there are so 
many exceptions that the ability to stand the fire of ques- 
tions from an audience and to reply effectively is an accepted 


CONVERSATIONAL QUALITY IN DELIVERY 55 


test of the able speaker. Often one member of a group en- 
gaged in conversation speaks at length while the others listen 
—and yet no one concerned feels that a speech is being 
made. And a very little experience of life tells us that 
speeches cannot conceivably be more impassioned than are 
some conversations. In brief, at no point can we say: here 
conversation leaves off, here public speaking begins. 

Obviously if we cannot really distinguish public speaking 
from conversation, the common elements must be those es- 
sential to the most effective communication in any speaking. 
It is not easy to describe these qualities, for they are rather 
felt than heard or seen—are rather to be experienced than 
analyzed. 

But regard a public speech as an enlarged conversation. A 
private conversation is usually the result of a desire to con- 
vey an idea to another person. We wish to describe a scene, 
to explain or defend an action, to tell a story or argue a 
case. We state, we are questioned, we answer, and perhaps 
in turn ask questions, and are answered. There is an ex- 
change of ideas. We talk with our hearer, not at him. This 
is true whether he does any of the talking or not, for we 
all answer questions and objections not audibly expressed, but 
indicated by a look, or judged by us to be in the listener’s 
mind. There is a keenly felt reciprocal communication be- 
tween speaker and hearer, a flux of give and take, of question 
and answer, through which ideas are communicated. And 
this form of communication is what we call conversation. 

Suppose that during the conversation a friend joins us 
and, becoming interested in the discussion, asks questions 
and gives his own opinion. We say that he is included in 
the conversation, Then suppose that other groups of two or 
three enter into the discussion, as we find them entering into 
the discussion in any of the Platonic dialogues—or as hap- 
pens in every club and classroom, and on every street cor- 


56 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


ner. They ask questions and receive answers, express opin- 
ions, and listen to the opinions of others. It is still a 
conversation, you say. But gradually their questions subside, 
the group becomes interested for the moment in the elabora- 
tion by one of the speakers of his own ideas. He is still 
explaining and answering inaudible objections or doubts. The 
conversation has altered in no respect. (Perhaps the speaker 
accommodates himself to-the enlarging group so that he may 
be seen and heard by all.) But if you were now to come 
upon the scene you might say that he was giving a speech. 
Yet from the manner in which it grew, it is plain that the 
original ‘‘private’’ conversation has been enlarged into a 
‘‘nublice’’ conversation and that all the elements of direct 
contact between speaker and hearers are essentially un- 
changed. 

It may at this point be profitable to attempt a restatement 
of our informal analysis of the qualities of conversational 
delivery. Professor Winans names as the two elements of 
conversational quality : 


1. Full realization of the content of your words as you 
utter them. 
2. A lively sense of communication. 


The neglect of the first of these two elements produces 
speaking which we may characterize as absent-minded. Ataie 
to be noticed that a vivid realization of thought is scarcely 
ever lacking in the private conversation of an individual. 
But when the same person rises to address his ‘‘public,”’ 
however small, he may cast thought to the winds; in prepara- 
tion his thoughts called up definite concepts or pictures, but 
when he delivers his speech, he fails to re-create the pictures, 
and the words alone remain, hollow and lifeless. Even im- 
promptu speaking may be absent-minded, for though the 


CONVERSATIONAL QUALITY IN DELIVERY 57 


speaker composes on his feet, thought may outrun utter- 
ance: he is already thinking of his next thought, no longer 
of the content of the words he utters. As a consequence, 
there is absence of expression, faulty grouping, either wrong 
or insufficient emphasis, and no sense of structural thought 
relations. 

To eradicate such faults as these, it is necessary to realize 
the thought at the moment of delivery. With a full realiza- 
tion of the content of the words as they are uttered, the 
greater faults of the speaker tend to iron themselves out ; 
thoughts assume their proper relations, and find their ap- 
propriate and vivid expression in voice and action, 

It is quite possible to speak with a full realization of the 
meaning of the words as they are uttered but without a 
lively sense of communication; indeed, such soliloquizing is 
a more common fault than absent-mindedness. The speaker 
may seem profoundly concerned with the thought, but quite 
unconcerned about sharing it with his hearers. Such a 
speaker will not be readily followed by an audience unless 
its interest in the subject is already as great as his own ; even 
then the speaker is heard in spite of himself. But the speaker 
who really converses with his audience has a constant pull 
on its attention, interest, and emotion, whether or not the 
subject be of vital import to his hearers. An audience, as 
definitely as an individual, desires to feel the direct glance 
of the eye, and the lively, animated voice of the Speaker. We 
all wish to feel that he who addresses us ‘‘ig trying to do 
business with us.’’ 

Conversing with an audience is an eye-to-eye, mind-to- 
mind process. It takes a degree of determination which 
many are unable or unwilling to give. At first it must often 
be effected by a sheer act of will. But it must never be con- 
sidered a mechanical practice to be acquired by external ap- 
plication. Here appearances will not pass for reality. Com- 


58 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


munication is first of all a mental state. It derives from 
the speaker, but the speaker and audiences share alike in it. 
Indirect thinking causes indirect speaking, and vice versa. 
Train the mental attitude to be direct and the speaking will 
have directness. The speaker who has once experienced the 
increase of power, animation, and response resulting from 
direct communication with his audience, is not likely to re- 
lapse into indirect speaking. He will be glad to make con- 
versing with his audience a habit, for the sake of the effec- 
tive freedom that comes with a keen sense of communication. 

It is from such a conception of public speaking as an en- 
larged conversation that a public delivery with the natural 
effectiveness of conversation will be developed. And it may 
be developed without indirection, improving and normalizing 
private speech the while it retains and develops for public 
delivery the economy, variety, directness, thought-earrying 
quality of conversation. 

In all speaking activities, from the casual impromptu class- 
speech to the oratorical contest and the Senior play, the 
teacher must be skilful, watchful, and persistent in assisting 
pupils toward this basic quality of all good speaking. The 
topics chosen and the preparation on them should be such 
that the speaker wishes to speak about them and can inter- 
est his audience in them. The extemporaneous speech, well 
prepared, alternating with the impromptu speech, affords 
the best approach. Answering questions from the floor and 
by the chairman will emphasize the quality of dialogue in 
public speaking. Informal discussion after the speeches 
should be encouraged, for discussion preserves the tang of 
reality, and keeps a background of effective conversational 
expression of ideas. The delivery of direct and vivid modern 
speeches may stimulate those whose own compositions are 
prosy and dull. Wrong training or natural reticence may 
make some pupils slow in developing conversational quality, 


CONVERSATIONAL QUALITY IN DELIVERY 59 


and for them special exercises must be devised by which 
the transition from private conversation may be made even 
more gradual. The resourceful teacher will readily invent 
means to this end; the pupil will enjoy the change afforded 
by varied approaches. 

After the characteristically conversational quality of speak- 
ing has been by some means or other experienced, and is on 
the way to becoming habitual, many other tasks will remain.” 


* Bishop Whately’s is the classie discussion of the natural method in 
delivery based on conversing. The quotation below is from Part IV of 
his Elements of Rhetoric, but the whole of that section on Elocution 
should be studied by every teacher. Hiram Corson’s somewhat sharp 
comment on Whately’s theory is added (from The Voice and Spirit- 
ual Education) in order to emphasize the importance of ‘‘sharpening 
the tools’’ of expression. 

‘‘To the adoption of any... artificial scheme [of elocution] 
there are three weighty objections; first, that the proposed system must 
necessarily be imperfect; secondly, that if it were perfect, it would 
be a circuitous path to the object in view ; and thirdly, that if both 
these objections were removed, the object would not be effectually 
obtained. 

‘*First, such a system must necessarily be imperfect; because though 
the emphatic word in each sentence may easily be pointed out in writ- 
ing, no variety of marks that could be invented—not even musical nota- 
tion—would suffice to indicate the different tones in which the different 
emphatic words should be pronounced; though on this depends fre- 
quently the whole foree, and even sense of the expression. KEte., 
aa aoe 

‘‘Secondly. But were it possible to bring to the highest perfection 
the proposed system of marks, it would still be a circuitous road to a 
desired end. . . . Tones, emphasis, ete., are part of the language; ... 
nature, or custom, which is a second nature, suggests spontaneously 
these different modes of giving expression to the different thoughts, 
feelings, and designs, which are present to the mind of any one who, 
without study, is speaking in earnest his own sentiments. Then, if this 
be the case, why not leave nature to do her own work? Impress but 
the mind fully with the sentiments, ete., to be uttered ; withdraw the 
attention from the sound and fix it on the sense; and nature or habit 


60 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Voice, gesture, platform manners, pronunciation, grammar, 
composition, style—the all too many important details of good 


will spontaneously suggest the proper delivery. That this will be the 
case, is not only true, but is the very supposition on which the artificial 
system proceeds; for it professes to teach the mode of delivery 
naturally adapted to each occasion. It is surely, therefore, a circuitous 
path that is proposed, when the learner is directed, first to consider how 
each passage ought to be read;—i. e. what mode of delivering each part 
of it would spontaneously occur to him, if he were attending exclusively 
to the matter of it (and this is what, it appears to me, should alone be 
studied, and most attentively studied) ;—then, to observe all the modu- 
lations, ete., of voice, which take place in such a delivery; then, to note 
these down, by establishing marks, in writing; and, lastly, to pronounce 
according to these marks. This seems like recommending, for the pur- 
pose of raising the hand to the mouth, that he should first observe, when 
performing that action without thought of anything else, what muscles 
are contracted,—in what degrees,—and in what order; then, that he 
should note down these observations; and lastly, that he should, in 
conformity with these notes, contract each muscle in due degree and 
in proper order; to the end that he may be enabled, after all, to—lift 
his hand to his mouth; which by supposition he had already done. Such 
instruction is like that bestowed by Moliére’s pedantic tutor upon 
his Bourgeois Gentilhomme, who was taught, to his infinite surprise and 
delight, what configuration of the mouth he employed in pronouncing 
the several letters of the alphabet, which he had been accustomed to 
utter all his life, without knowing how. 

‘“Lastly, waiving both the above objections, if a person could learn 
thus to read and speak, as it were, by note, with the same fluency and 
accuracy as are attainable in the case of singing, still the desired object 
of a perfectly natural as well as correct Elocution, would never be 
in this way attained. The reader’s attention being fixed on his own 
voice (which in singing, and there only, is allowed and expected), the 
inevitable consequence would be that he would betray more or less his 
studied and artificial Delivery; and would, in the same degree, manifest 
an offensive affectation. ... 

‘‘The practical rule then, to be adopted, in conformity with the prin- 
ciples here maintained, is, not only to pay no studied attention to the 
Voice, but studiously to withdraw the thoughts from it, and to dwell as 
intently as possible on the Sense, trusting to nature to suggest spon- 


CONVERSATIONAL QUALITY IN DELIVERY 61 


public speech—make the rhetorician’s task unending. But 
the labor on all these phases both of delivery and of speech 


taneously the proper emphases and tones.’’—Whately, Elements of 
Rhetoric, p. 241. 


‘¢¢ Bnter into the spirit of what you read, read naturally, and you 
will read well,’ is about the sum and substance of what Archbishop 
Whately teaches on the subject, in his Elements of Rhetorve. Similar 
advice might with equal propriety be given to a clumsy, stiff-jointed 
clodhopper in regard to dancing; ‘Enter into the spirit of the dance, 
dance naturally, and you will dance well.’ The more he might enter 
into the spirit of the dance, the more he might emphasize his stiff-jointed- 
ness and his clodhopperishness. . . . ‘Nature,’ says the Archbishop, ‘or 
custom, which is a second nature, suggests spontaneously the different 
modes of giving expression to different thoughts, feelings, and designs, 
which are present to the mind of any one who, without study, is speaking 
in earnest his own sentiments. Then, if this be the case, why not leave 
nature to do her own work? Impress but the mind fully with the senti- 
ments, ete., to be uttered; withdraw the attention from the sound, and 
fix it on the sense; and nature, or habit, will spontaneously suggest the 
proper delivery.’ 

‘‘Such instruction as this is not unlike that which Hamlet gives to 
Guildenstern, for playing upon a pipe, and would be, in the majority of 
cases, hardly more efficacious: ‘Govern these ventages with your fingers 
and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most ex- 
cellent music. Look you, these are the stops.’ Guildenstern replies: 
‘But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not 
the skill.’ The last sentence tells the whole story. The Archbishop, 
with all his great abilities, had not the requisite skill in oratorical 
delivery. 

‘So this may be said to be the conclusion of the whole matter: the 
main result which can be secured in teaching reading, and in training 
the voice, is technique and elocutionary skill of various kinds—a skill 
which the student can bring into his service, when voicing his intel- 
lectual appreciation and spiritual assimilation of a poem or any other 
form of spiritualized thought; the illumination of the subject-matter, 
intellectual and spiritual, must come from the being of the reader... . 

‘<There are two unwarrantable assumptions in what Dr. Whately 
writes about Elocution: 1. That a reader or speaker can do with an 
untrained voice what his mind wills, or his feelings impel him, to do. 


62 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


preparation will be greatly lightened by the attainment of 
the ability to converse with an audience. And the reason- 
ableness, sound taste, and practicality of this standard will 
make instruction more effectual, and insure an academic 
standard of public address and of public delivery which is 
not at variance with the best usage of the world of affairs. 


Not one in a thousand can. 2. That all principles of Elocution which 
may be taught will continue inthe consciousness of the reader or speaker 
—that he will be ever thinking of the vocal functions which he exercises. 
‘The reader’s attention,’ he says, ‘being fixed on his own voice, the 
inevitable consequences would be that he would betray more or less his 
studied and artificial delivery.’ 

‘* All true culture, to be true, must be unconscious of the processes 
which induced it. But before it is attained, one must be more or less 
‘under the law,’ until he becomes a law to himself, and do spontaneously 
and unconsciously what he once had to do consciously, and with effort.’’ 
[Italics by Editor.]—Hiram Corson, The Voice and Spiritual Education, 
p. 14. 


THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE 


HENRIETTA PRENTISS 
Hunter College of the City of New York 


School administrators do not have to be convinced of 
the importance of adequate voice in every human being who 
has to deal with his fellows. They need to be made aware 
of the dangers of inadequate voice, of the standards that a 
class teacher in a secondary school has a right to demand of 
the pupils, of the possibility of improving voice under class 
instruction, of the possibility of voice training which shall 
be so related to mental action that affectation shall not re- 
sult, of the difference between growth and affectation, of 
the relationship between speech training and the other con- 
ventional disciplines of the school. 

The first difficulty lies in the fact that the average teacher 
is content with ‘‘present utility.’’ If a voice is good enough 
to ‘‘get the thought across,’’ it is good enough. Voice as 
a symptom by which a diagnosis can be made of existing 
mental, social, and emotional conditions which will deter- 
mine the future of a child—voice as a symptom by which 
a prognosis of the future can be made, voice as a challenge 
to teachers—who heeds it? 

The popular standard of voice is audibility. ‘“‘Speak 
louder’’ is the popular incitation. At the very outset there 
is failure to understand the distinction between audibility 
and intelligibility. The fact is that the average child is 
voeally able—given the stimulus and desire—to make himself 
heard without training in the average classroom; a large 

63 


64 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


proportion of children are able to make themselves heard 
without training in their school auditoriums. Yet there is 
constant complaint that the children are not heard. The 
difficulty is not with being heard, but with being under- 
stood; sounds reach the ear of the teacher or the audience, 
but not meaning. Notwithstanding, correction is directed by 
too many teachers to the production of greater volume, not 
to the handling of normal volume in such a way that it carries 
thought. 

With this distinction in mind we may begin with a diagno- 
sis of inadequate voice. 


I. INAUDIBLE VOICES 


Inaudible voices are rarely found except in cases of aphonia 
which need to be treated by doctors. 


II. UNINTELLIGIBLE VOICES 


A. Outer indications. 


1. Lack of eagerness or interest in the face. 

2. Tendency to focus the glance in one direction which 
may be equally a blank wall or a teacher. 

3. Lack of spiritedness, the leap of voice and body to 
give expression to the mind’s alertness. 

4. Lack of inflectional variation. 

5. Failure to speak in the varying pitch range of the 
voice, now high, now low, now medium; ever 
changing; never reduced to a pattern. 

6. Metronomic evenness of rate, dully slow or hys- 
terically rapid. 


B. Inner causes. 


1. Lack of interest in the subject matter. 
2. Indifference born of the more or less conscious 
realization that most recitations are cut and dried 


THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE 65 


and valueless, except to the reciter who is to be 
marked on his recitation and the teacher who must 
mark, 

3. Overdevelopment of the analytical faculties which 
tend to abstractions as against the development of 
the creative faculties which lead to vivid and con- 
erete expression. 

4. Failure to find in the class a field for social activity ; 
resulting in a substitution of soliloquy for address 
or discussion. 

5. Loss of concentration. 

Inferiority complexes. 

7. Fear. 


> 


III. Vortces Poor In TonE QUALITY 


A. Outer indications. 


1. Breathiness. 

Huskiness. 

Thinness. 

Throatiness from swallowing the tongue. 

Throatiness from tightening the muscle walls of the 
throat. 

6. Nasality. 

7. Denasalization. 

8. Lack of resonance. 


Seated 


(In many eases, these voices satisfy the average teacher 
and school executive because, despite poor quality, they are 
both audible and intelligible and the demands of utility are 
met. 

There are two matters overlooked: 


1. The unconscious antagonism—the defense mecha- 
nisms such voices arouse in the hearers, the teacher 


66 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


himself often unconsciously antagonistic to the 
puzzled and unsuspecting child. 

2. The probability that such voices, if their possessors 
find occupations dependent on prolonged use of 
the voice, will lead to sore throats, decreasing vocal 
power and nervous affections. ) 


B. Inner causes. 


1. Flabby muscle control of the posture muscles, the 
breathing muscles, and the elevators of the soft 
palate. 

2. Constriction of muscles controlling the vocal lips (or 
cords), the throat, back of tongue, and jaw. 

3. Lack of voice placing. 

Lack of amplification of tone through resonance. 

d. Lack of imagination. 


ee 


IV. Voices Lacking VOLUME 
A. Outer indications. 


1. Small voice. 
2. Strained or noisy voice. 


B. Inner causes. 


1. A vocal demand larger than a child is yet ready 
for. (It is as wrong to strain a child’s voice to 
fill a large hall as it is to expect a young singer 
to fill the Metropolitan Opera House in New 
York.) 

2. Lack of support in breathing muscles. 

Concentration of effort in throat muscles. 

4. Lack of friendly social identification with every one 
in the hall. 

5. Lack of animal vigor. 


—- 


THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE 67 


What are the standards we have a right to demand? In 
determining standards we must consider that classes too often 
consist of thirty or more students, that the students are 
adolescent, that they are not as a rule interested in personal 
development for professional purposes,—speaking, acting, or 
singing—and that it is only occasionally that they are called 
upon for sustained work in large halls. Class training in 
secondary schools should be for the normal voice as it is 
used conversationally or in addressing groups of the average 
class size. (The stress must be laid always, not on filling a 
room, but on reaching the people in it. Classroom roaring 
might be corrected if this were kept in mind, and more 
flexible voices might be developed.) 

We are justified in demanding of our students: 


The voice social; radiation of voice. 

The voice animated; eagerness of voice. 
The voice clear; support of voice. 

The voice pleasant; modulation of voice. 
The voice resonant; amplification of voice. 


fed Spe) pep CT 


The following axioms ought to support these standards. 


Axiom I, 


To establish good voice, our survey must first concern it- 
self, not with what is wrong with the children’s voices, but 
with what is wrong in classroom methods that can destroy 
concentration, interest, animation, social identification—the 
attitudes of mind out of which the thought-carrying quali- 
ties of voice must come. 


Axiom II. 


Three-fourths of voice training must come through the 
handling of subject matter, be it reading, reciting, extempo- 
raneous speaking, or what not. 


68 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Axiom III. 


Voice training in the secondary schools should concern 
itself with a maximum of intelligibility and the minimum 
volume essential for easy audibility by a group of from thirty 
to fifty people. (Training for dramatics, public speaking, 
debating is done with selected groups, smaller than the 
average class.) 


Axiom IV. 


Technical voice drill must be of such a general nature 
that thirty children can engage in it safely without the need 
of individual supervision. This would rule out all exercises 
for abdominal breathing, abdominal voice support, breath en- 
durance tests, voice endurance tests, and so on. 


Axiom V. 


The exercises that are given must be specific, known by 
name or number so that they can be easily referred to, and 
must have recognizable marks of attainment whereby the 
children can measure their own accomplishment to a certain 
degree. 


Axiom VI. 


Voice work in voice classes is of too little avail unless all 
the departments of a school codperate—l, through an intel- 
ligent understanding of the problems involved in voice; 
2, through a friendly insistence on voice standards in every 
recitation. 


Axiom VII. 


There must be a system for referring children who fall be- 
low standard to their voice teachers for investigation of the 
causes, and for further training; and there must be oppor- 


THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE 69 


tunity for consultation for children who find themselves voice- 
less and afraid in certain classes. 


Axiom VIII. | 


Opportunity should be given once a term at least for chil- 
dren to hear speakers or readers who are masters of the art of 
good voice and good speech. 


Axiom IX. 


The school should afford demonstrations of good voice and 
speech in its students through dramatics, declamations, de- 
bates, and so on. 


If voice teachers want codperation from school adminis- 
trators and the academic faculty, they must not only be well- 
trained men and women intellectually, culturally, technically, 
and informed in the creative processes as well, they must not 
only have a well-planned course of study, they must not only 
show legitimate progress in their students, but they must 
combat several sources of misunderstanding. 

The first is a tendency to believe that any one who speaks 
English well is qualified to train children both in voice and 
speech. This assumption is, of course, quite incorrect. 

A second source of misunderstanding is the tendency to 
apply more rigid standards of criticism to the effectiveness 
of speech training than to any other school discipline be- 
eause, good, bad, or indifferent, a child’s voice and speech 
equipment is on constant exhibition. 


The writer recently had an interview with a professor of mathematics 
who was one of a Committee on Course of Study to determine whether 
requested optionals should be allowed. ‘‘How do you teach reading?’’ 
said she. ‘‘By two methods—discussion of underlying principles and 
practical application.’’? ‘‘And are your students all able to read well 
when you have done?’’ she asked. ‘‘Answer this first,’’ I countered. 
‘‘After you have developed a principle in mathematics are all your 


70 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


students able to apply it to original problems?’’ ‘‘No.’’ ‘‘Do stu- 
dents in your courses ever fail?’’ ‘‘Yes.’’ ‘‘So do the students in 
voice and speech classes,’’ I replied, ‘‘but wherever they go they must 
continue to speak whether they do it well or ill. Your mathematics 
students are not compelled to solve problems outside the class. The 
assumption, therefore, is that mathematics teachers know how to teach 
while speech teachers do not.’’? Moreover, slow, constant improvement 
in voice and speech is not noticed. 


We ought to have phonographie records of the voices of 
the students at the commencement and close of their train- 
ing, both as testimony to others, encouragement to students 
and incentive to teachers. With all that is accomplished in 
voice training and that could be proved by such records, we 
must keep two facts in mind. There must be a desire for 
improvement on the part of young people. Without that 
inner urge there is nothing to be accomplished. If families 
and friends are satisfied with poor voices and speech, if 
pupils have been refused or have lost no positions because 
of poor speech and voice, if they have had no sore throats, 
no laryngitis, no nervous exhaustion because of poor voice, 
then anything said by a voice teacher is likely to be dis- 
counted as professional idiosynerasy. For the average high 
school boy or girl there must be within the school some sub- 
stitute for public opinion or business discrimination, to up- 
hold the voice teacher. If departments other than that of 
speech brought constant pressure on boys and girls to give 
more serious attention to their voice training it would be a 
very great help.t. On this unanimity of standard among the 
teachers could be built up the public opinion of the school. 

A third misunderstanding needs to be constantly and 
patiently corrected. Training for the speaking voice must 


*A professor of zoology in an Eastern college recently told the writer 
that his department refuses to recommend to medical schools any students 
whose voice and speech are not those of cultured men because of the 
effect of uncultured voice and speech on the profession and the patients. 


THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE 71 


be slow if it is to be sound. The direction, ‘‘You must always 
think how you are speaking, whether you are reciting or 
leading a class meeting or carrying on a conversation,’’ is 
fundamentally wrong. A student should never think how he 
is speaking at such times. If he does, he loses his concen- 
tration on his subject matter and on the audience, and with 
it, the basic factors on which good voice depends. Voice 
support springs from concentration and creative imagination, 
and voice radiation from interest in other people. To think 
about the voice when there is something to be said and some 
one to say it to, is radically wrong. The only thing accom- 
plished is a wresting of form from content which results 
in affectation. Hope for voice improvement lies on the one 
hand along the line of freed personality, deepened interest 
in all matters under discussion, and increased social identifica- 
tion. On the other hand, it lies in ear training which results 
in increasing appreciation of good voice and speech in others 
and conscious or unconscious imitation; in increasing protest 
against the harsh and unlovely in speech and voice, with con- 
sclous or unconscious repudiation of it; and in daily tech- 
nical drill to which a pupil will subject herself under the 
contagion of personality, the pressure of public opinion, and 
the stimulus of secondary school activities. 


If up a mountain side there were two paths, one broad and easy and 
traveled over for years, the other recently broken through by wood cut- 
ters, rough to the feet and not yet clearly defined, which would we 
follow if, in an emergency, we were in haste to reach the top? Every 
act of speaking is an emergency. Speech impulses seek the old and 
beaten paths in our brains to old accustomed forms of utterance. But 
every classroom exercise, every ten minutes of home practice makes 
the new path clearer until the time comes when speech traffic is shifted 
from old to new and fine vocal and speech forms become habitual and 
unconscious. Teachers of other subjects must be patient with pupils 
and with teachers of speech training if during the period of incubation 
the egg shell shows no change from day to day. 


72 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


The obverse to all this is the plea that when improvement 
begins to make itself manifest the pupils shall not be accused 
of affectation nor the voice teacher of fostering affectation. 
Affectation certainly does result from voice training if man- 
ner is exalted at the expense of matter, but in nine cases out 
of ten legitimate change is charged to affectation, not to 
erowth. A pupil who takes singing is complimented on 
developing a fuller, deeper voice. A child who is trained in 
speech is accused of becoming affected if his voice becomes 
deeper and fuller. We must be allowed the right to change 
voice if we are to be accused of not changing voice. 

If the terms ‘‘voice’’ and ‘‘speech’’ have been used in this 
discussion of voice, it is because voice and speech cannot be 
separated in any form of training. Speech training, as it 
has been systematized by the International Phonetic Associa- 
tion, is scientific and consistent and if introduced into the 
schools would immeasurably lighten the burden of speech 
teachers. It deals not only with individual sounds but with 
the rhythm and blending of speech. It correlates with the 
work done in French and German in our more progressive 
schools and links our speech training with that of the Old 
World and the Orient. 

Phonetic and voice drill ought to go hand in hand, but 
they should be kept subordinate to training in the imaginative 
processes of thinking and expression so that always the pupils 
shall be made to understand that matter is more than manner 
and must vitalize manner even to the point where manner is 
lost sight of. 

No phonetic training should be allowed in which good voice 
is not a sine qua non. <A pinched vowel tone is not a 
good vowel tone. All technical voice exercises should be 
built up on consonants and vowels, on vowels and consonants 
and vowels, on passages intoned and inflected. These pas- 
sages, however, could not be used for expressive purposes 


THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE 73 


while they were being used as vehicles for voice drill. The 
issues here must not be confused. 





Following are the subjects of drill on which exercises need 
to be built up: 


I. Posture 
Desiderata 
1 Ease, not mechanical correctness. 
2 Sense of the support of floor or seat. 
(‘‘Sit tall downward,’’ ‘‘Stand tall downward,’’ are better 
than ‘‘Sit up,’’ ‘‘Stand up,’’ to which the usual response is 
strain followed by habitual collapse.) 
3 Sense of the spinal column as the axis of the body on which we 
ean lean. 
4 Freedom of distribution of all the members of the body about 
the central axis. 


II. BREATHING 
Desiderata 
1 Ease, not spasmodic control. 
2 Continuity; no hold between inspiration and expiration. 
3 Centrality; quiet chest, shoulders and abdomen. 
4 Control; regulated rate of breathing. 


III. OPENNESS 
Desideratum 
1 Association of speech impulse with release of muscle control over 
jaw. (We speak from an open mouth which has to be closed 
to form a few sounds. We do not speak from a closed mouth 
which has to be opened to form a few sounds.) 


IV. Toner PLacine 
Desideratum 
1 Focusing of tone behind upper front teeth. 
a. On a hummed n, jaw easily relaxed, vibrations can be felt by 
tip of tongue as it is moved easily over the upper front gum. 
When these vibrations are sensed tone can be placed on the 
front vowels. (Care must be taken not to exaggerate the 
linear position of the lips. A slight rounding helps to draw 


74 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


the tone forward.) When the front vowels have been placed 
it is possible by imitation to place the back vowels forward. 
The tendency in poor speech is to make the back vowels so 
far back that tone is focused in the throat, and to imitate 
this tendency on the front vowels so that they also are muffled. 


V. AMPLIFICATION oF TONE THROUGH HEAD RESONANCE 


Desideratum 
1 Consciousness of the resonance cups in the head which vibrate 
sympathetically with the fundamental tone and make it spin out 
without any added muscle effort. 


a. 


VI. 


Having felt the vibration between tip of tongue and gum on 
a hummed n, hum to sense those vibrations distributed over 
the facial mask until eyes, nose, cheek bones become alive 
with tone. 


. Having become conscious of this, hum until you sense the 


whole head as one great resonance cup of spinning tone; until 
you feel the resonance pushing out between the ears and up 
into the top of the head. Carry this over into vowels. 


AMPLIFICATION OF ToNE THROUGH Room RESONANCE 


Desideratum 
1 A consciousness that the room in which tone is formed is also a 
resonance cup which will play sympathetically with you. 
a. Having become conscious of head resonance, hum until you 


become conscious of tone carried on by the room after your 
vocal cords have ceased to vibrate. Carry this exercise over 
into vowels. 


VII. FREEDOM or TONE FROM NASALITY 


Desiderata 

1 A sense of the distinction between the sympathetic vibration of 
air in the nose as a resonance cup and the direction of the breath 
stream through the nose because of a dropped velum. 

2 Power to raise and lower the soft palate at will. (Exercises 
must be based on ear-training, training in relaxation of jaw 
which coordinates with a raised velum, and training in shifts 
from d and t to voiced and voiceless n, to mark conscious point 
where velum drops at the shift from the plosive stop to the nasal 


stop.) 


THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE 75 


VIII. INrITIaTion or TonE 
Desiderata 
1 Freedom from glottal stops. 
2 Codrdination between breathing and tone. 


IX. Vicor oF Tone 
Desideratum 
1 Animated Voice. (Exercises based on animal cries, mooing of 
cows, roaring of lions, etc.) 


X. Support or TONE 
Desideratum 
1 Firmness of Tone based on control of breathing muscles. 


This is not the place to discuss the relationship that should 
exist between speech training and the other conventional dis- 
eiplines of the school; some of the grounds for misunderstand- 
ing between the teachers of the various disciplines have been 
analyzed. Every school might well call a conference of all 
its teachers to thrash out the question of mutual responsibility 
for the voice and speech of the pupils, a method of co- 
operation between departments, and a system of personal 
conference for the young people. 


PHONETICS AND SPEECH TRAINING 


SARAH T. BARROWS 
University of Iowa 


The term phonetics unfortunately seems to mean differ- 
ent things to different people. To some phonetics means 
merely the phonetic alphabet. The student who has learned 
to use the phonetic alphabet as an aid to French pronuncia- 
tion feels that he has studied phonetics. There are schools 
in which a period spent in articulation drills is called the 
‘“phonetics’’ class. The primary teacher calls a device for 
aiding the children in word recognition either “‘phonics’’ or 
‘“phoneties,’’ as if the two words were interchangeable. These 
and similar misapprehensions make neither for sound teach- 
ing technique, nor for a proper recognition of the importance 
of phonetics as a science underlying, and having immediate 
practical application to, all forms of speech training. 

Phoneties is a science which treats of speech sounds; of 
the anatomy and functions of the organs of speech; of the 
physical characteristics of speech sounds and their relation 
to the speech organs; of speech sounds studied singly and 
in combination; of the stress, pitch, duration, and intona- 
tion of speech sounds by which thought and emotion are 
expressed and communicated. Its scientific and pedagogical 
value would seem quite obvious. Culturally it adds a new 
and absorbing interest to life, just as do the sciences of 
botany, astronomy, geology, physics, or chemistry. 

A phonetic alphabet is merely a tool used in phonetics. 
It makes possible exact recording of speech sounds. It is, 

76 


PHONETICS AND SPEECH TRAINING 77 


therefore, not phonetics. Phonetics is something more than 
a mere system of respelling. Articulation drills are not 
phonetics, though they should be founded on phonetic prin- 
ciples. Phonics systems are not phoneties, although they too 
should be in accordance with phonetic principles. These 
are but some of the technological applications of phonetics. 

The science of phonetics has grown out of the research of 
students of many different branches of learning. Psycholo- 
gists, linguists, physicists, anatomists, physiologists, physi- 
cians, teachers of foreign languages, of Singing, of the deaf 
and dumb, have all contributed their share to the development 
of this comparatively new science. In the earlier days of 
the science observers of speech had to rely upon their im- 
pressions received by ear and eye while the subject was 
speaking. While speech sounds result from definite adjust- 
ments of the organs of speech, the activities of some parts 
of the speech mechanism are difficult to observe. Some 
sounds are produced by closing the mouth passage so that 
observation is practically impossible. Our ears, too, are un- 
reliable recorders of speech sounds. Sounds are transitory 
and even if repeated do not make quite the same impres- 
sion on the ear. The eye and ear unaided do not give us 
trustworthy information either about the nature of speech 
sounds or their production. Owing partly to this necessarily 
imperfect observation, many, and sometimes conflicting, 
theories of the production of speech sounds have been 
proposed. 

To-day, by means of Roentgen ray photographs, and in- 
struments which measure lip pressure, tongue pressure, breath 
pressure in the mouth and nose, and the action of the muscles 
used in breathing, we are acquiring much more reliable in- 
formation about sound formation. Other instruments meas- 
ure the physical properties of the sound wave, so we are also 
obtaining information about the acoustic characteristics of 


78 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


speech sounds. It is even possible to transform sound waves, 
as they issue from the lips, into light waves and photograph 
them, so that a permanent record, visible to the eye, may 
be studied. The tendency is now to place less and less re- 
liance upon our impressions of speech sounds as we listen 
to speakers; but to study the sounds objectively in the labora- 
tory, with all the aids that allied sciences can bring to us. 

These facts about speech discovered in the laboratory can 
be turned to practical use in many ways. Practical applica- 
tions of phonetics are made by teachers of foreign languages, 
by teachers of the deaf and dumb, by teachers of singing, by 
teachers interested in speech improvement or speech correc- 
tion, in fact by any one who is teaching the use of the speech 
mechanism. 

It is clear then that to all such teachers training in 
phonetics is indispensable. All cannot be specialists in the 
field. But all can and should make use of the knowledge 
which specialists have gathered, and by so doing will make 
their own work easier and more effective.' 

Teachers of the different phases of Speech have constant 
occasion to make application of phonetics though they may 
not be teaching the subject of phonetics, for they must con- 


1«<The study of English phonetics, however fundamental, is of so 
specialized a character that a discussion of the many questions involved 
could not be attempted within the limits of the present pamphlet. In 
the hands of a staff possessing adequate knowledge phonetics may well 
be made the basis of speech training from the beginning of the school 
course, for the speech of large numbers of children calls for criticism 
and correction in respect both of enunciation and pronunciation. On 
this ground it is to be hoped that more English teachers will avail 
themselves of opportunities of acquiring the requisite knowledge. There 
is the further reason that much of the work in English grammar in 
recent years has been concerned with phonology, to which phoneties is a 
necessary introduction.’’—Some Suggestions for the Teaching of Eng- 
lish in Secondary Schools in England. London, 1924, p. 19. 


PHONETICS AND SPEECH TRAINING Us, 


cern themselves with the correct pronunciation of words 
and with their distinct utterance. Teachers of speech, there- 
fore, find phonetic training invaluable. 

Teachers of public speaking, oral interpretation, and 
dramatics, especially, must give attention to pronunciation 
and enunciation. Speech is habit, and since habits carefully 
built up under the direction of a teacher, especially with the 
strong incentive of a future public performance, are often 
firmly fixed, the teacher needs sufficient training in phonetics 
to be able to give the pupil the right sort of guidance. 

Faulty articulation and incorrect pronunciation present dif- 
ficult problems. In both cases we have generally to deal 
with firmly established habits impenetrating the whole speech 
pattern. Very often these habits are the result of imita- 
tion of faulty models, of one’s family or childhood friends, 
and are therefore unconsciously associated with home en- 
vironment. Changes in such habits are likely to be opposed 
by the speaker as tending toward affectation. The absence 
in this country of any accepted standard of pronunciation or 
speech adds to the difficulty of this problem. 

Teachers of speech correction, in so far as their work con- 
cerns the teaching of correct production of speech sounds, 
will find the application of phonetics to their problem the 
only reliable and scientific approach. Speech correction also 
requires knowledge of the activities of the speech organs and 
a thorough understanding of the nature of speech sounds. 

Teachers of English to foreigners will find that the applica- 
tion of phonetics to the teaching of English pronunciation will 
give them better results with less effort than will any other 
method. The foreigner needs to learn to use the muscles 
of his speech mechanism as we use ours. The teacher needs 
to know each foreigner’s national speech habits, and the 
most effective way to help him to change them. He needs 
an ear trained to hear mistakes and a working knowledge 


80 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


of speech habits so that he can interpret what he hears cor- 
rectly. He needs to know the devices that will transform 
the foreign pupil’s lesson in pronunciation from a tiresome 
and rather unsuccessful attempt to imitate the teacher’s 
speech into a fascinating study of his own and his teacher’s 
speech habits. 

The fields of phonetics and of speech training are so 
closely interwoven that any teacher who attacks the prob- 
lems of pronunciation and enunciation scientifically, must 
find himself at times, willy-nilly, teaching phonetics. He 
should therefore have at least a thorough grounding in this 
science. 

The few books listed below will afford a view of the ele- 
ments and possibilities of the subject. 


Ripman, Walter. Good Speech, New York, Dutton, 1922. Sounds of 
Spoken English, New York, Dutton, 1924. Simply written, interesting 
little books based on British usage. 

Dumville, Benjamin. Science of Speech, Baltimore, 1909. Quite simple 
and interestingly written; a good introduction to the science. Based 
on British usage. 

Birmingham and Krapp. First Lessons in Speech Improvement, New 
York, Scribner’s, 1922. Descriptions of English speech sounds, with 
diagrams of tongue and lip position. Exercises for drill. A helpful 
book for practical study. Based on American usage. 

Jones, Daniel. Outline of Phonetics, Leipzig, Teubner. Contains a 
more thorough and detailed description of speech sounds than other 
books mentioned. Based on British speech. 

Kenyon, John Samuel. American Pronunciation, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
George Wahr, 1924. An interesting discussion of speech, with special 
reference to the speech of the Middle West. Full of valuable in- 
formation and stimulating to independent study. 

Krapp, George Philip. Pronunciation of Standard English in America, 
New York, Oxford University Press, 1919. Invaluable as a refer- 
ence book for students of pronunciation, 

Sweet, Henry. The Sounds of English, Oxford, 1910. An excellent 
‘‘Tntroduction to Phonetics,’’ containing a chapter on problems of 
speech training. 


PHONETICS AND THE TEACHING OF 
HLOCUTION 


LEE §. HULTZEN 
Washington University 


‘Correctness of pronunciation ...is...a_ specially 
phonetic, not an elocutionary question. And yet there is 
none on which elocutionists are more ready to dogmatize than 
on this. ... They are seldom content with attacking vul- 
garisms and provincialisms; they make war on principle on 
all colloquialisms, although, of course, they find it impossible 
to get rid of them in practice. They ignore gradation and the 
obscuration of unstressed vowels; the general result of which 
is that the pupil is forced to acquire an artificial elocutionary 
language distinct from that of everyday life. His elocution 
suffers from this in many ways. The constant effort to avoid 
falling back into natural habits of speech robs his delivery 
of all freshness and freedom, the very muscles of his throat 
partake of the general rigidity, and the purity of tone is 
impaired. Even when the artificial habits by long practice 
become a second nature, the result is always unpleasing, 
because it is artificial and unnatural.’’ 

Regardless of the justice of the accusation, this sweeping 
condemnation of elocutionists by the ‘‘father of English 
phoneties,’’? Henry Sweet, serves admirably as a point of 
departure for any discussion of the relation of phonetics to 
elocution. If a pupil is forced to acquire an artificial elo- 
cutionary language distinct from that of ordinary life, the 
result will be bad elocution. However much the occasion of 

81 


82 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


the delivery of a speech may impose special conditions upon 
the speaker, he must still be using the same sounds which 
he uses in ordinary conversation and primarily for the same 
purpose, communication. To quote again from Sweet, “‘ Noth- 
ing can shake the fundamental principle that all elocution, 
however far it may be removed from the language of ordinary 
life, must be based ultimately on it.’’ 

This does not mean that bad habits of conversational speak- 
ing, careless or incorrect pronunciation, hemming and haw- 
ing, ete., should be retained in declamation and in the delivery 
of original speeches. It means that these faults must be 
eradicated from the pupil’s casual, everyday, conversational 
language as well as—we might almost say, before they can 
be—from his elocutionary language. Elocution is based on 
conversation; good elocution is based on good conversation. 
All of the benefits to be derived from a study of phoneties 
will, if the good practices of conversation are carried over 
into the more formal discourse, be all the more evident there. 

But as correct and careful and vigorous articulation will 
be appreciated by any audience, so overelaborate pronuncia- 
tion and the disguising of the less definite, unstressed sounds 
of speech by the substitution of full and definite sounds 
will be confusing to the same audience. The phonetic phe- 
nomenon of gradation, both as it is concerned with the proper 
use of the weak forms of many words and with the use of ob- 
scure vowel sounds in the unstressed syNables of polysyllablie 
words, must be particularly observed by the teacher of elocu- 
tion because student speakers have a tendency to feel that 
under conditions of even the slightest formality they must use 
a strong, frequently a dictionary, pronunciation in place of 
the usual and correct weak or indefinite, conversational pro- 
nunciation. It need not, of course, be suggested that any in- 
sistence upon the use of strong forms defeats the very end of 
training—except under exceptional circumstances. (A very 


PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 83 


clear discussion of this subject, and other matters bearing 
on elocution, may be found in Sweet’s The Sounds of Eng- 
lish, Oxford, 1910.) 

In the Halves: of speeches a Parthée application of this 
principle may be noted, one not of much importance in 
ordinary conversation. Not only is the use of weak forms 
allowable and necessary because the main part of the idea 
is carried by the stressed (7. e. the strong, or definitely 
articulated) sounds, but it is further apparent that the idea 
is almost entirely contained in a relatively small number of 
the words uttered, the others being incidental adjuncts, usu- 
ally necessary only for coherence and the grammatical com- 
pleteness of the sentence. If the auditor hears these idea- 
bearing sounds and hears them at the time intervals which 
his familiarity with the grammatical construction leads him to 
expect, he will understand the meaning whether or not he 
hears the intervening sounds. When he hears all the sounds 
his comprehension of the meaning is likewise greatly aided if 
the idea-bearing sounds stand out from the context, and is 
hindered if the unimportant sounds are made emphatic. A 
rule for speakers might be phrased: ‘‘Take care of the 
meaningful sounds and the rest will take care of themselves.”’ 

Such characteristics of speech sounds as this form the 
material for the study of phonetics. Mr. Sweet’s implication 
that the phonetician should be the arbiter in questions con- 
cerning the correctness of pronunciation, and similar matters, 
is perhaps only partly true. As a scientist the phonetician 
is primarily concerned, not so much with what ought to be 
done, but with what is done. It is on the basis of the con- 
clusions of phoneticians as to what is the actual practice of 
speakers, good and ill, that the teacher of elocution should 
determine what his pupils must do to be good speakers. Un- 
fortunately the phonetics of real elocution has received but 
scanty consideration in proportion to the amount accorded 


84 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


conversation. Yet there is much material in almost every 
text which bears directly or indirectly on our problem. 
There are two relationships between phonetics and the 
teaching of elocution to be considered: (1) How does the 
study of phonetics help the teacher better to instruct his 
pupils in elocution? and (2) How may the teaching of pho- 
netics be of aid in connection with the teaching of elocution? 
The same general truism covers both cases: the more any one 
knows about the material which he is teaching or studying, 
the better he can teach or understand. It must be apparent 
that a rather complete elementary knowledge of phonetics, 
not merely of the points bearing on elocution, is, if not a 
necessary, at least an invaluable aid to the teacher. Practi- 
cally no matter treated in the usual texts is without some 
significance, and of course much of this knowledge has long 
been part of the elocutionist’s equipment under other guises. 
But in teaching there are certain limitations. We have al- 
ready touched upon one phase of phonetics as being particu- 
larly pertinent to the problems of elocution as distinguished 
from those of other oral English. We shall now briefly 
consider a second, which seems to be of equal importance. 
We speak not in words but in groups of sounds which 
usually correspond to several written words. Phoneticians, 
however much they may dispute as to the exact nature of 
these groups, are generally agreed that some such sound unit, 
and not the word, is the phonetic unit next larger than the 
syllable. The sound-group may be short or long, may contain 
part of a sentence, even only one word; or a complete sen- 
tence, or, rarely, two or more sentences. Whether the division 
between groups is marked by a pause in the flow of breath, 
or by the intonation, or possibly in some other manner, there 
is no more division between the words within any one group 
than there is between the syllables of a single word. Thus 
there is only one ¢ sound in what time, and phonetically, 


PHONETICS AND ELOCUTION 85 


to use Sweet’s example, put on is exactly analogous to 
putting. 

Perhaps too great emphasis upon this, a complete negation 
of the old dictum, ‘‘Do not run your words together,’’ might 
tend to make youthful speakers more careless of their speech 
than ever. But ignoring the truth that this is the way people 
actually talk is even more certain to have its ill effect— 
artificiality. Surely there must be some happy mean by 
which the student can be induced to speak carefully and at 
the same time naturally. 

There is no division between the words within a sound- 
eroup; there must, however, be divisions between groups. 
The speaker must pause to take breath, if for no other reason. 
But he may not pause haphazardly or when out of breath. 
There is another reason for pausing, or otherwise marking 
the ends of groups, and it is this reason which makes, or 
should make, a speaker divide his flow of speech sound into 
eroups beginning and ending at certain places, and not at 
other places physically just as convenient. The principle is 
again that of the idea content. As Passy says, we speak in 
order to be understood. Those words or sounds belong in one 
group which are required for the expression of one idea. 
We have been considering two classes of words, those really 
necessary for the communication of an idea and those only 
useful as less important aids. A sound-group, then, might be 
expected to contain the important word, occasionally words, 
of one idea and the auxiliary words which are grouped about 
that idea-bearing word. And such we find is the practice of 
good speakers. Such should be the practice of the student of 
elocution. Each group should contain the sounds pertaining 
to that idea or portion of an idea which the mind of the 
auditor can grasp at one time. 

Such grouping cannot be left to chance, although it is 
more than probable that the best results are not to be ob- 


86 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


tained by saying to the pupil, ‘‘Group your words.’’ Rather 
say to him, ‘‘Think about what you are saying when you 
are saying it.’’ If he thinks of an idea as he is endeavoring 
to express it, he will utter in one group the words having to 
do with that idea. If he is thinking about anything else, 
whether it be some extraneous matter or the next idea to be 
expressed or the last one, nothing but chance will decide 
what grouping of words he will make. 

As already suggested, the teacher of elocution should be 
familiar with much more of the science of phonetics. As 
having a special bearing on his particular problem, these 
matters of gradation, with the further implication of grada- 
tion among words as well as among the sound elements of a 
word, and of the grouping of sounds, are especially sig- 
nificant. So also the whole problem of intonation. It must be 
apparent that the old elocutionary rules for letting the voice 
fall at a pause of completed sense, and rise at a fall of in- 
completed sense, are quite insufficient. Yet the study of this 
portion of phonetics has been so little developed for American 
speech and the work on the intonation of English speech is 
so patently unsatisfactory that no generalizations can be 
made—except possibly the quite useless one that intonation 
is very important and does as much as any one speech factor 
to set the mood and communicate the meaning of the speech, 
and make apparent the personality of the speaker. 


THE PROBLEM OF PRONUNCIATION 


WILLIAM TILLY 
Columbia University 


Good pronunciation has its intrinsic value as a help in 
communicating thought by speech; we wish to speak clearly 
so that we may be easily understood, and we wish our pro- 
nunciation to be agreeable so that the hearer may be effec- 
tively persuaded. We wish our pronunciation to help make 
what we read appreciated by those to whom we read. 

Good pronunciation also has its symbolie worth. It should 
stand for all that is simple, earnest and honest, accurate and 
clear—should stimulate these qualities in our speech, and, 
through our speech, in our thoughts and deeds. 

This is instinctively felt by cultured people, who, without 
at all being open to the charge of affectation or pedantry, 
attach great importance to ‘‘correct’’ pronunciation. People 
are not better for ‘‘ragamuffin pronunciation’’ any more than 
for ragged clothes or bad manners, although they may be 
quite worthy persons in spite of them, We are right in judg- 
ing people by their pronunciation, whether careful, simple, 
cultured, or careless and vulgar, or artificial and affected. 
The everyday use of careful but simple and unaffected pro- 
nunciation is an external matter which has far-reaching in- 
ternal influences, morally, intellectually, and esthetically. 
The study and teaching of pronunciation should be conducted 
with these facts constantly in mind, not from motives of 
vanity or affectation. 

Many teachers of English pronunciation lose time and 
effort through their ignorance of the substantial body of 

87 


88 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


knowledge previously accumulated on the subject. Often 
they waste the time they should use for learning in writing 
books and delivering lectures. How many of these writers 
and talkers lack even an elementary knowledge of phonetics, 
or think that phonetics means ‘‘phonics’’! If you doubt this, 
go to a Speech Congress. Others pin their faith to some 
loudly advertised book or method, little dreaming that the 
author may be ignorant, presumptuous, even insincere. 
Others’ knowledge stops where Alexander Melville Bell left 
off, though great advances have been made in the studies 
in which the Bells, father and son, were pioneers. We stand 
on Bell’s shoulders; he is acknowledged as the founder of 
modern phonetics by the great linguistic scholars. But these 
scholars are so eminent and represent so many different lan- 
cuages, that they have tremendously advanced our knowledge 
during the last forty years. 

The object of this article is to ask in connection with 
various details of the teaching of pronunciation: 


1. What knowledge have we of which we can make 
practical use? 
2. How may we apply this knowledge in teaching? 


The writer has been studying and teaching the pronuncia- 
tion of English and a wide range of foreign languages for 
some thirty-five years. His methods, new and startling per- 
haps to some, are not theories, but have been tested by him- 
self and others in the teaching of little children, native and 
foreign, in elementary schools from the kindergarten on, in 
high schools, and with adult natives and foreigners. 

Phonetics. Henry Sweet says, ‘‘In no subject does a little 
knowledge go so far as in Phonetics.’? We must add, “‘if 
that knowledge be thorough and practiecal.’’ 

Teachers of pronunciation need not become phonetic spe- 
_ cialists; still less aim to teach theoretical phonetics to their 


THE PROBLEM OF PRONUNCIATION 89 


pupils. But they should be able to use ‘‘applied phoneties’’ 
in their teaching so as to direct and facilitate the imitation 
of sounds. Theoretical acoustics will be useless. A study of 
the muscles of the tongue or the larynx, of the ear, of the 
auditory nerve, and of the speech center of the brain may 
be interesting, but no use can be made of all this for our 
purpose. Do not touch instrumental phonetics (sometimes 
ealled ‘‘experimental phonetics’’) till after thorough training 
in linguistic phonetics. Read what Henry Sweet says in 
The Sounds of English (Oxford, Clarendon Pr.), page 107. 

Ask him who claims to have had a phonetic training what 
system of phonetic transcription he uses; if he answers 
‘‘None at all,’’ waste no time with him. He is like an arith- 
metician who, for simplicity’s sake, does not use the Arabic 
ciphers and the signs ++ and —. 


To-day little children, with these signs and ciphers, solve arithmetical 
problems that would have baffled skilled mathematicians of ancient 
times. So children taught to use phonetic script can answer questions 
which appear very difficult and learned to most educated grown-ups who 
have not had this training. For example: Why do the plural of back, 
the 3d person singular of hit, the weak form of ts in it’s have as a final 
sound s; and the plural of bag, the 3d person singular of rub, the weak 
form of is in he’s have z? Why does the past tense of kick end in the 
sound t, but the past tense of beg end in the sound d? Why, in spite 
of this, do we spell all the first with s and the second with ed? 


Educated foreigners long resident in this country but rely- 
ing solely on imitation, instead of using imitation with 
phonetic guidance, continue to mispronounce the forms in 
s and d, and educated natives are not able to correct them. 
These children can, and do, for they have the knowledge.? 

Phonetic script, like ciphers in arithmetic, simplifies the 
task. The objection that phonetic script will spoil the spell- 


1Fannie Goldberg has used modern phonetic methods with marked suc- 
cess in the 1A, 1B, and 2A grades of P. S. No. 50, Brooklyn. In the 


909 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


ing is purely theoretical. The opposite happens. See ‘‘Real 
Words and Book Words’’ below. 

Read ‘‘Phonetie Training for Children’’ by Sophie A. Pray, Quar- 
terly Journal of Speech Education, Vol. IX, No. 2, April, 1923. For 
beginners in Phonetics, the smaller the textbook the better. Walter 
Ripman’s Good Speech (Dutton) is excellent. Read and re-read this 
little book of 88 pages. If you can get no oral instruction, Windsor P. 
Daggett’s phonograph records, The Spoken Word (Longmans, Green), 
will help. Later add Ripman’s Sounds of Spoken English and Speci- 
mens of English and Daniel Jones’ English Pronouncing Dictionary 
(Dutton). For correcting foreign accent E. Tilly’s Aid to French Pro- 
nunciation (Macmillan) will be the best to begin with. Every teacher 
should have Sophie A. Pray’s simple and effective directions for pro- 
ducing English sounds (S. A. Pray, c/o W. Tilly, Columbia University, 
New York). See also ‘‘Phonetics’’ by R(aymond) W(eeks) in Mon- 
roe’s Cyclopedia of Education, and various articles in Henry Sweet S 
Practical Study of Languages (Holt). 


Intonation. Until recently, intonation was the despair of 
teachers of pronunciation. Only fragmentary notices of no 
practical value were available. Some declared that intona- 
tion could be learned only by blind imitation, and the intona- 
tion of a foreign tongue only by long residence in the foreign 
country. 

But Hermann Klinghardt’s twenty years of research has 
made it possible to teach intonation. The branch of phonetic 
training we thought most difficult becomes the easiest. And 
French intonation, regarded as the most difficult for English 
speakers, the easiest of all. Klinghardt’s great simplifying 
discovery was, that by carefully keeping apart logical, matter- 
of-fact intonation from its emotional accompaniments (varied 
speed of utterance, force, varied pitch of whole intonation 
same school, the writer had, in less than an hour but with the use of 
phonetic script, taught a class of Russian Jewish children to distinguish 
the pronunciation of ng words like finger, singer; to pronounce the two 


groups correctly; and to understand why the words, though pronounced 
differently, were spelled alike. 


THE PROBLEM OF PRONUNCIATION i 


groups, etc.), simple laws, different for different languages, 
could be discovered and simple rules laid down for learners. 
After logical intonation has been practised until it becomes 
automatic, the emotional part of speech will take care of 
itself. Klinghardt, always having in view teaching, also 
devised a simple system of marking by dots which children 
and foreigners readily learn to read and to write. 

Fanny Daniels, of P. S. No. 77, Brooklyn, uses very successfully in 
the first grade, pictures with texts in phonetic script with stress and 
intonation markings. Sophie A. Pray and Gertrude Proudman, Speech 
Supervisors in New York City, have also introduced Klinghardt’s mark- 
ings, with and without phonetic script. 

See Klinghardt and Fourmestraux, French Intonation, translated by 
Barker (Dutton), and Klinghardt und Klemm Ubungen im englischen 
Tonfall (Cothen, Otto Schulze). The exercises in the latter are in Eng- 
lish, usable by those who read no German. An article giving the neces- 
sary introduction in English is soon to appear in the Quarterly Journal 
of Speech Education. 


The Alphabet. The letters we use in our book words we 
call *‘ English letters’’—the ‘‘ English Alphabet.’’? A French- 
man calls the same letters ‘‘French letters’’—and an African 
Zulu probably calls them ‘‘Zulu letters.’’ They are all, how- 
ever, Latin letters—Roman letters. The English got them 
from the British Celts, who got them from the Irish mission- 
aries, who got them from Rome. If we ‘‘pronounce each 
letter’’ as we do in the International Phonetic Script, we say 
them in a way which would have satisfied the ears of Chaucer 
000 years ago, of Alfred the Great 1000 years ago, or of a 
Roman of 100 B.C. Our present, quite modern, misleading 
aye, bee, sea, dee would have seemed ridiculous to all these. 

Young children should never hear them; it would be a blessing if they 
entirely disappeared. Suspect the phonetics of a ‘‘phonetician’’ who 
speaks of ‘‘five aye sounds’’ and of ‘‘sea sounds.’’ Also the ‘‘ phoneti- 


cian’’ who cannot pronounce foreign or dialectal sounds. A Turk once 
told the writer he had studied English ‘‘funny ticks.’’ 


92 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Just as the English got their letters from the Irish, so 
the Romans got them from the Greeks, not of Athens but of 
Cumz close to what is now Naples. The Greeks had letters 
for almost every Greek sound. Their book (written) words 
were faithful representatives of their real (spoken) words. 
But the Romans had sounds not used in Greek, e.g. nine 
Roman vowels for five Greek letters. Similarly, the Irish did 
not make new letters for the-Irish sounds for which there were 
no Roman letters. The English managed in the same way. 

Thus the alphabet which represented Greek sounds well, 
suited Latin not so well, suited Irish worse, and English 
worse still. Let us call this Roman alphabet which we still 
use for our book words the Unimproved Roman Alphabet. 

The Improved Roman Alphabet. The Greeks got their 
alphabet probably from the Pheenicians. These Semites wrote 
only consonants. Of certain superfluous consonant letters 
the Greeks made vowel signs, our A E I O U. Pronounce 
these with the value given them in the International Phonetic 
Seript and it would have been right for an ancient Greek 
ear. For other consonants they arbitrarily added new signs. 
This improved Semitic alphabet is what we now call the Greek 
alphabet. 

But the peoples of Europe, America, Australia, and South 
Africa hobbled along with an unimproved Latin alphabet until 
1888. At that time a group of the greatest linguistic scholars 
of Europe, patterning after the ancient Greeks, added to the 
unimproved Roman alphabet new signs for certain unrepre- 
sented sounds, and for others used certain superfluous letters, 
e.g. q (=k) and « (=ks), keeping the original Roman values 
for all the other letters. This gave us the Improved Roman 
Alphabet, the alphabet of the International Phonetic Asso- 
ciation. Henry Sweet’s ‘‘broad Romic’’ (so called because 
it retained the Roman values of the letters), with modifica- 
tions to adapt it to all languages, was used as its basis. 


THE PROBLEM OF PRONUNCIATION 93 


We now write English book (written) words in the wnim- 
proved Roman alphabet; the real (spoken) words in the 
improved Roman alphabet. The improved Roman alphabet 
has more letters than the unimproved; letters common to both 
represent the same sound values. Sounds that differ are 
always treated as different; s is never z. Sounds that are the 
same are always treated as the same; a (pronounced ah) 1s 
always a. No such wonders as ‘‘five different kinds of a 
(pronounced aye)’’ or ‘‘the a (aye) in fall.’’? 

Real Words and Book Words. A clear understanding of 
the distinction between real words and book words is of the 
utmost importance. No one can talk reasonably about Eng- 
lish pronunciation who confuses these two kinds of words. 
The real word is the word we speak and hear. The book 
word is the word we write and see; it was never intended to 
represent the real word, but an older and very different word. 
In English we have one language for the ear (real words) ; 
another very different one for the eye (book words). Anyone 
who takes modern English letter names seriously must have 
muddled ideas about pronunciation. Let the children learn 
the alphabetic order in a profitable way : not aye, bee, sea, dee, 
but a, b, c, d with the values these signs have in the alphabet 
of the International Phonetic Association. When our present 
book words (spelling) were made, 500 years ago, say in the 
days of Chaucer, our present letter names did not exist.® 
These names, particularly those of the vowels, aye, ee, eye, owe, 
you, lead us to form totally wrong ideas of the book words. 
The values used when the spelling was made should be 
restored: ah, aye, ee, oh, ooh as in Italian and German. 


2 That this Roman basis is the only one that will not lead to confusion, 
is now acknowledged by most reputable linguistic and phonetic scholars. 
See Principles of the International Phonetic Association, obtainable 
from Daniel Jones, University College, Gower St., London, W. C. 

$In Chaucer’s day a word could be spelled in various ways, so long 
as it could be understood. Now we must use only one fixed spelling. 


94 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


If you pronounce time as it is written, with two syllables and with 
the original values of the letters, t as in top, i as in machine, m as in 
man, and e as in get, you pronounce the word as it was 500 years ago 
when this spelling was made. This word, thus pronounced, is our book 
word, and we should teach that the word so pronounced is the spelling, 
and that the writing and printing mean this two-syllable word: time, 
as an Italian would read it if he took it for an Italian word—or almost 
as a Scotchman would pronounce tea may. But when we read, we sub- 
stitute for this book word another, very different in sound, the real 
word of modern English: taim. (Look this word up in Jones’ English 
Pronouncing Dictionary.) 


Real words are not evolved from book words; it will not 
simplify matters to attempt to make two different things, real 
words and book words, identical. 


This differentiation, as experience shows, is not difficult for children. 
Foreigners, too, readily grasp it. Children should be taught to answer 
as follows: What is the real word? Answer: taim. What is the book 
word? Answer: ti-me (with the continental values of i and e). Spell 
tam. Answer: t i— me. Pronounce t i—me. Answer: taim. 

Read the chapter, ‘‘ Divergence of Spelling from Pronunciation,’’ in 
H. C. Wyld’s Growth of English (London, Murray). For Chaucer Pro- 
nunciation see Henry Sweet’s Second Middle English Primer (Oxford, 
Clarendon Pr.). 


Space forbids dealing with other important points. For- 
tunately there are satisfactory sources of information. We 
note here a few. For a full bibliography use G. Noél-Arm- 
field’s General Phonetics (Cambridge, Heffer), pp. 171-179. 


Standard English Pronunciation. Professor G. P. Krapp of Columbia 
University, in his Pronunciation of Standard English in America (Ox- 
ford Univ. Pr.), p. x, admits several standards. His specimens VII, 
XT, and XII would satisfy the other writers, mentioned below, who 
admit only one standard for English. 

Henry Cecil Wyld, Professor of English at Oxford University, the 
chief authority on standard, shows that the Received English Standard 


Half-educated people take spelling very seriously: ‘‘Pronounce much 
as you like, but be very, very careful about your spelling.’’ 

*On the preceding page, ix, Krapp defines his standard as follows: 
‘“What the author has called standard may perhaps be best defined 


THE PROBLEM OF PRONUNCIATION 95 


is probably 500 years old and has been spreading rapidly for 300 
years. See his Growth of English (London, Murray), p. 47; A History 
of Modern Colloquial English (London, Unwin); and an excellent small 
book, The Teaching of Reading (London, Black): Consult also Reaney, 
Elements of Speech Training; M. E. DeWitt, HuphonEnglish in Amer- 
ica (Dutton); J. Lesslie Hall, English Usage (Scott, Foresman), In- 
troduction; W. Tilly, ‘‘Standard English Pronunciation,’’ reprint of 
article to be had by sending addressed envelope to W. Tilly, Columbia 
University, New York; Windsor P. Daggett, ‘‘The Spoken Word,’’ 
weekly articles with phonetic script in the Billboard (Cincinnati, Ohio). 

Sweet, Ripman, Viétor, Jesperson, and practically all the foreign 
scholars of English recognize the one standard only. 

As to the question, ‘‘Should we pronounce all our R’s?’’ read: C. H. 
Grandgent, ‘‘The Dog’s Letter,’’ in Old and New (Harvard Univ. Pr.) ; 
Henry Sweet, The Sounds of English (Oxford, Clarendon Pr.), pp. 62- 
64; ‘‘Tilly on R,’’ reprint from the Billboard, to be had by sending 
addressed envelope to W. Tilly, Columbia University, New York. 

Weak Forms in English. See Henry Sweet, The Sounds of English, 
pp. 65-69; Edmond Tilly, First English Conversations (Book Store, 
Robert College, Constantinople), pp. 4-6; [also J. S. Kenyon, American 
Pronunciation, pp. 150-159. Ed.] 

Pronouncing Dictionaries. Daniel Jones, English Pronouncing Dic- 
tionary (Dutton), on a purely phonetic basis; the only one up to 
present which satisfies modern requirements. See Weeks, Bright, Grand- 
gent: The N. HL. A. Phonetic Alphabet with a Review of the Whipple 
Experiments (Lancaster, Pa., New Era Printing Co.), and M. KE, 
DeWitt, ‘‘The Webster Key,’’ Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, 
Vol. VIII, No. 2, Apr., 1922, pp. 156-160. 


negatively, as the speech which is least likely to attract attention to 
itself as being peculiar to any class or locality.’’ For further discus- 
sion of this view see also Krapp, ‘‘The Improvement of American 
Speech,’’? English Journal, Vol. VII, No. 2, Feb., 1918, pp. 87-975 ESNEIN, 
Scott, ‘‘The Standard of American Speech,’’ English Journal, Vol. Vik: 
No. 1, Jan., 1917, pp. 1-11; J. S. Kenyon, American Pronunciation 
(Ann Arbor, Mich., Wahr, 1924), p. iv. [Editor’s Note.] 


METHOD AND PRACTICE IN THE LEARNING 
PROCESS 


JAMES-M. O’NEILL 
University of Wisconsin 


I. Domne aS AN ASPECT oF LEARNING 


We learn to do by doing: we learn to swim by swimming, 
to sing by singing, and to speak by speaking. This is an 
obvious and somewhat overworked truth. It is admittedly 
a truth but it is not, as some apparently believe, the whole 
truth in regard to speech training. 

In learning to speak, as in learning to do anything else, 
a necessary part of the learning process, and the only ade- 
quate test of the thoroughness of the learning, is doing. No 
one can learn to speak simply by reading books about speak- 
ing or by listening to lectures on speaking, or by observing, 
no matter how critically, the speaking of others. But in 
our field to-day there is less need to teach this than there 
is to insist that doing is not the whole of learning, and that 
practice, mere practice, practice unaccompanied by the other 
necessary elements of a complete learning system, does not 
constitute an adequate program in speech education. 

‘Practice makes perfect’’ is a dangerous half-truth. Prac- 
tice makes permanent is a truer statement. Practice crystal- 
lizes, sets, deepens, makes permanent whatever is practised. 
If the speaker indulging in much practice has many faults, 
the practice tends to make the faults harder to eliminate. If 
the speaker indulging in much practice has many excellent 
qualities, the practice will tend to set and crystallize, and 

96 


PRACTICE IN THE LEARNING PROCESS Dt 


make these permanent. This universal result of practice, the 
teacher of speech should always bear in mind in talking about 
learning by doing. 

‘‘Hixperience is the best teacher’’ is another slogan which 
must be accepted only with serious qualification. Experience © 
is the best teacher of the things which experience teaches— 
and these are necessary. But experience is the only teacher 
that always approves everything that the pupil does—the 
only teacher who always says, ‘‘Do it again precisely as you 
did it before.’’ Experience is the most uncritical and sweetly 
approving teacher in the whole profession. Experience, of 
course, is substantially but another word for practice as used 
above, and the most constant result of experience in speak- 
ing is to make permanent whatever qualities our speaking had 
during the experience. 

The common statement about the merits of the hard school 
of experience should be greatly discounted so far as public 
speaking is concerned. Our audiences are too polite, too un- 
critical, too uninformed in regard to good public speaking, 
to make the mere experience of speaking to an audience with- 
out being compelled to stop, a sure road to learning how to 
speak well. But if this ‘‘mere experience’’ is accompanied 
by the other elements which should go to make up a full pro- 
eram of speech training, then the experience will indeed be 
helpful. 

Perhaps one of the silliest notions in regard to public 
speaking to-day is that any man who has spoken a great deal 
in public must necessarily be a very good speaker, or even 
must necessarily be a very good teacher or critic of public 
speaking. Some men who have been public speakers for 
years never have been and never will be good public speakers ; 
and some very good public speakers never can be good teach- 
ers or good critics of public speaking. Much experience in 
speaking by itself no more insures good speaking than life- 


98 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


long suffering from illness necessarily makes one a competent 
physician. 

To get the most out of doing as an aspect of learning, to 
make experience teach what we want it to teach, to enable 
practice to make its full contribution towards perfection, we 
must put the practice into its proper place and make it play 
its part in a team of four elements. These four elements 
together can adequately pérform the task of speech training, 


Leave out any one of the four and the process loses much, 
if not all, of- its educational possibilities. The four steps 


are: motivation, knowledge, practice, criticism. 


II. Tar Puace or Narurau Girrs 


‘But surely,’’ some one may say, ‘‘any one who is naturally 
gifted as a speaker needs only plenty of practice to allow 
his talents to develop.’’ This is, however, very dangerous 
doctrine. If one had great natural gifts in every aspect of 
speaking, practice alone would doubtless come very close to 
making perfect. But people so endowed are so rarely found 
that we need not plan programs for their cases. For any 
one less richly gifted, reliance on experience and natural cifts 
alone is always unwise. 

This is not to decry the place of natural gifts or talents. 
This is not to say that any one, regardless of his talent, who 
understands the theory and tries to apply it, will become a 
superlative artist. Nor is it to say that the results achieved 
by the complete educative process will not vary greatly ac- 
cording to the natural gifts of the educatee. Natural cifts 
or talents make a big contribution. The danger is that the 
student who is well-endowed in some one aspect of speaking 
will try to rest upon that one talent and refuse to develop 
the others. Take, for instance, the following list of five sorts 
of natural gifts which have some bearing upon one’s ability 
to speak well. Certainly a person who has great natural gifts 


PRACTICE IN THE LEARNING PROCESS 99 


or talents in these five aspects can easily dispense with much 
speech training. But a person who lacks some of these (as 
who does not?) can profit by experiencing all four steps in 
the process of learning by doing—and can hardly improve 
by depending upon the one step, practice, alone. 

A. Some people have a deep original interest in the various 
subjects upon which they have oceasion to speak. They have 
intellectual curiosity and intellectual capacity. Without 
needing to be taught why or how, they get well-informed 
upon the subjects of their speeches. They do not need to be 
told how necessary it is to have something to say; they do 
not need to be taught the potency of complete and accurate 
knowledge. They do not need to learn how to find material 
to investigate subjects. They always know whereof they 
speak. 

B. Some people are naturally good thinkers. They are 
logically minded. They analyze; they separate the relevant 
from the irrelevant, the trivial from the fundamental, the fact 
from the opinion, the knowledge from the guess, the informed 
judgment from the ignorant prejudice, the news from the 
propaganda, the true from the partly true, the partly true 
from the false. They seem instinctively to be aware of the 
pitfalls of fallacies, the danger of illogical inference, and to 
appreciate the values and advantages of vigorous and ac- 
curate thinking. They just naturally ‘‘talk sense.’’ 

C. Some people are naturally in tune with their fellow 
men, They know human nature, men and women. They can 
understand and make themselves understood in the give and 
take of human intercourse. They are free from the com- 
plexes, fears, inhibitions, suspicions, and hatreds that tangle 
and frustrate so much of the work of the world that calls 
for human understanding, sympathy, cooperation. They are 
naturally persuasive, sensitive, agreeable. The ‘‘science of 
persuasion’’ need not be written for them. 


100 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


D. Some people have a natural power in language, a verbal 
felicity ; a “‘gift of gab’’ it has been crudely called. Words 
come to them. They never lack for phrases in which to clothe 
their thoughts. They may lack thoughts that are worth 
clothing, but that is another story. But they do not need 
much instruction in the use of words as such. Formal in- 
struction in the use of language as language—in whatever de- 
partment—would be quite wasted. 

E. Some people are ‘‘natural born talkers.’? They ean 
talk to audiences easily, pleasantly, efficiently, so far as voice 
and action are concerned. They can say with telling effect 
anything that they may have to say. Sometimes they have 
precious little to say, but that also is another story—a story 
which the wisest in their audiences do not always learn until 
they have a chance to read the speech in print and see how 
little it really contained. Instruction in the principles of 
voice and action is hardly needed here—and mere practice 
in talking is worse than wasted. 

Other similar lists of talents can be made. Most people 
have more ability in some aspects of speaking than in others. 
Any one who seeks improvement should work on the basis of 
careful diagnosis. He should not simply seek general experl- 
ence, extensive practice, but should seek practice along with 
the other three proper steps in the whole process: 


1. Motivation. 


2. Knowledge. 
3. Practice. 
4. Criticism. 


IIl. Tur Four Steps 1n LEARNING BY Doing 


1. Motwation. Any doing, any practice, in speaking which 
is designed to help the speaker to learn how to speak well, 
should be accurately motivated. It should be undertaken for 
some purpose which the speaker understands in advance. 


PRACTICE IN THE LEARNING PROCESS 101 


There should be an end, an objective, which is clearly com- 
prehended by the speaker before he begins to speak. In other 
words, he should know what he is trying to do before he 
tries to do it. He should know what kind of a speech re- 
sult he is trying to accomplish, or what sort of speech ability 
he is trying to gain facility in. The student of speaking 
should no more speak just for the sake of speaking than 
the student of painting should paint for the sake of paint- 
ing. Before the student of painting starts on a piece of 
work he should know whether he is painting a portrait or a 
landscape, what its subject, and size, and various other ele- 
ments and limitations are to be. So too the student of speak- 
ing. When he makes a speech as a part of his method of 
learning to speak, he should know what kind of speech he is 
making, what its purpose is. In other words, all the work 
should be carefully, intelligently, and accurately planned. 

2. Knowledge. The experience, the practice, actually in- 
dulged in by the speaker should be guided by a knowledge 
of the sound principles applicable to the sort of activity at- 
tempted. The student should understand the theory of the 
art he is practising. He should know not only what he is 
trying to do, but how he ought to try to do it. He should 
have method and material as well as purpose. Before trying 
to interpret a lyric a student should know at least the ele- 
mentary principles of oral reading, or the interpretation of 
literature. He should know the differences between inter- 
pretation and direct speaking, between direct speaking and 
acting. The same is true of the student attempting to learn 
to debate by debating. Before he indulges in very much prac- 
tice in debating, he ought to understand the principles of 
argumentation and debate. Before attempting to make after- 
dinner speeches, or speeches of introduction, or to deliver 
eulogies, the student should know the theory which applies 
to the problems of making these types of speeches. Knowing 


102 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


what he wants to do, and how he ought to try to do it, are 
both necessary prerequisites to getting the full educational 
value out of the experience of attempting it. 

3. Practice. To learn to speak we must have considerable 
practice in speaking. We must have experience in trying to 
accomplish our purposes. We must have experience in 
applying the principles of good speaking—in trying to make 
the theory work. We should know that we often do in prac- 
tice, for the purpose of gaining some particular skill, things 
which we do not undertake as full projects. In other words, 
we can practise on parts for the development of particular 
abilities, as well as on wholes for the accomplishment of 
definite purposes. 

a. Drill. All practice drill should be based upon analysis 
or diagnosis, and the things practised should be intelligently 
chosen to promote whatever facility is aimed at. For ex- 
ample, students may be given considerable drill in action, 
and may even be trained in types of action which would not 
ordinarily be used in any form of speaking, simply for the 
purpose of gaining bodily freedom and control. Again, stu- 
dents may be given considerable training in declamation, 
but training in declamation should be undertaken for the 
accomplishment of recognized purposes in the development of 
the speaking ability of the declaimer. Declamation is prop- 
erly only a drill and is not a real speech activity to be 
classed with debating, oratory, reading, acting, extemporane- 
ous speaking (by declamation is meant the presentation from 
memory of direct speeches in the first person which have 
been prepared for some occasion other than the one on which 
they are being used). MReciting from memory one of Web- 
ster’s orations is declamation. Delivering a memorized scene 
from Shakespeare or a lyrie poem from Browning is not 
declamation. Dramatic reading, or interpretative reading, 
are real activities. Mature people, in the actual affairs of 


PRACTICE IN THE LEARNING PROCESS 1038 


life, read, and interpret, and act, but never declaim. That 
does not mean that the student should not be given training 
in declamation, but he should be given training in declama- 
tion only for the promotion of some particular ability, not 
to gain proficiency in declamation per se. So with any type 
of drill which the teacher of speech may prescribe for the 
accomplishment of certain purposes in the pupil’s develop- 
ment. 

b. Whole Activities or Projects. In the second place, we 
should have practice in complete and real activities—the 
making of speeches, taking part in debates, the preparation 
and delivery of public addresses, acting, reading, and inter- 
pretation. We must have practice and more practice in all 
of these activities if students are to learn how to do them 
well, and all of the practice must be motivated and based 
upon a knowledge of the principles which govern effective, 
successful performance of these activities. Only such moti- 
vated, informed experiences can do that superior kind of 
teaching which experience is generally credited with doing. 
Only such practice can assist in making the student perfect. 

4. Criticism. If the student is to gain an educational 
advantage from the whole performance, he must have criti- 
cism of the work which he has been trying to do. His success 
or failure, of whatever degree, should be diagnosed and 
evaluated. Blanket approval or disapproval on the part of 
an untrained audience has very little of educational value 
m it. Some one who knows what the student was trying to 
do, and who knows the principles or theory applicable to the 
activity attempted, who understands something of the 
student’s position, and ability, and stage of development, 
Should, after each experience or practice, offer an under- 
standing, sympathetic, constructive, criticism of the way in 
which the student has done his work. Unless some one 
can help the student to understand why he has been ef- 


104 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


fective or ineffective, interesting or tiresome, pleasing or 
offensive, audible or inaudible, the student has little chance 
of learning from his experience anything more useful than 
some such blunt and uncritical lesson as ‘‘Try it again next 
time’’ or ‘‘Never do that again.’’ 

Who shall criticize? The answer is, the best critics avail- 
able and as many as possible. In classes, of course, the 
teacher should criticize and probably the most helpful criti- 
cism will usually come from the teacher, but the informed 
student should be able to eriticize himself and should try 
conscientiously to diagnose his own failures or successes as 
he sees them. Students may criticize each other. The value 
of student criticism will depend, of course, upon the maturity 
and competence of the students and the atmosphere of the 
classroom. But the principle of learning by doing applies 
here. If our students of speaking are to develop rapidly 
to anything like their maximum power, they must be compe- 
tent critics of speaking. Students learn to criticize by criti- 
cizing. And students learn to speak better through the 
criticism of fellow students. 

The following paragraph from Winans’ Public Speaking 


shows pretty thoroughly the proper philosophy of criticism 
in this field: 


‘But perhaps the greatest advantage [in class work] is that he can 
get honest, intelligent criticism by one who is trained to the work and 
who has had experience in watching the development of many other 
students. Competent criticism is extremely hard to get elsewhere. There 
are enough to condemn or ridicule us, and our friends are quick to tell 
us we do splendidly; but few will tell us the truth. There are few who 
are candid enough, and fewer still discriminating enough for that. The 
unskilful will usually touch upon the incidental rather than the essential; 
they will base their comments upon a very mechanical view of the sub- 
ject, and they will usually criticize too much. The teacher, on the other 
hand, should be capable, and it is to his self-interest to tell you the 
truth in order that you do his work credit. When you do find anywhere 


PRACTICE IN THE LEARNING PROCESS 105 


a competent non-professional critic, ‘grapple him to thy soul with hooks 
of steel.’ He is more likely to be found in one’s speaking class than 
elsewhere. The comments of student on student are not the least of 
the advantage of such a course.’’ 


Motivated, informed, extensive practice in speaking, com- 
petently criticized, is what we ought to mean by the doing 
which results in what we ought to mean by learning. 


ORAL EXPRESSION IN THE ENGLISH 
PROGRAM 


EDWIN B. RICHARDS 
Supervisor of English, New York State Department of Edueation 


Oral English, as a term describing a considerable activity 
in school life, and as indicating a much utilized skill in life 
outside of school, is coming to be recognized as of importance 
in the curricula of both the elementary and the secondary 
schools. This term hardly represents the content of the work 
to be covered and does not adequately distinguish this work 
from other parts of speech training of a more specialized 


1<¢We wish, therefore, very strongly to insist that training in con- 
tinuous oral expression should be brought to the front as the most in- 
dispensable part of the school course. Without it the junior classes 
will fail in their object of ‘grounding’ the children. The senior 
classes, also, will find that their teaching of English will have but ill- 
balanced results if all the speaking is done out of school, all the reading 
and writing in school. Here, in addition to dramatic work, debates and 
brief ‘lectures’ by the pupils themselves may be found helpful. Oral 
work is, we are convinced, the foundation upon which proficiency in 
the writing of English must be based; more than that, it is a condition 
of the successful teaching of all that is worth being taught.’’—The 
Teaching of English in England, London, 1921, p. 71. 

‘‘The particular results to be sought in the English course may be 
... definitely outlined as follows: 

‘‘T, In general, the immediate aim of the high school English is two- 
fold: 

(a) To give the pupils command of the art of communication in 
speech and writing. 
(b) To teach them to read thoughtfully and with appreciation, to 
106 


ORAL EXPRESSION IN THE ENGLISH PROGRAM 107 


character.? Perhaps oral expression is a more adequate desig- 
nation of the activity involved inasmuch as the term includes 
the expression of one’s own ideas in an intelligent as well as 
an intelligible manner. This skill comprehends the power 
to command information, ideas, to organize these in intelligi- 
ble order, and to present them intelligently. Oral expression 
thus implies knowledge, organization, presentation. 


form in them a taste for good reading, and to teach them how to find 
books that are worth while. 

These two aims are fundamental; they must be kept in. mind in plan- 
ning the whole course and applied in the teaching of every year. 
‘TT, Expression in speech includes: 


(a) Ability to answer clearly, briefly, and exactly a question on 
which one has the necessary information. 

(b) Ability to collect and organize material for oral discourse on 
subjects of common interest. 

(c) Ability to present with dignity and effectiveness to a class, or 
club, or other group material well organized. 

(d) Ability to join in an informal discussion, contributing one’s 
share of information to opinion, without wandering from the point 
and without discourtesy to others. 

(e) For those who have, or hope to develop, qualities of leadership, 
ability, after suitable preparation and practice, to address an audience 
or conduct a public meeting with proper dignity and formality, but 
without stiffness or embarrassment. 

(f) Ability to read aloud in such a way as to convey to the hearers 
the writer’s thought and spirit and to interest them in the matter 
presented. 

‘“Note. All expression in speech demands distinct and natural articnu- 
lation, correct pronunciation, the exercise of a sense for correct and 
idiomatic speech, and the use of an agreeable and well managed voice. 
The speaker should be animated by a sincere desire to stir up some 
interest, idea, or feeling in his hearers.’’—Reorganization of English 
in Secondary Schools. Bulletin, 1917, No. 2, of Department of Interior, 
Bureau of Education, p. 30. 

*See a very stimulating paper on this and many other topics discussed 
in this report, ‘“Aims and Standards in Publie Speaking Work,’’ by 
James A, Winans, English Journal, Vol. XII, April, 1923, p. 223 ff. 


108 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


lt is futile for one to attempt to say anything until one 
has something to say. Ideas, born of knowledge and thought, 
form the substance of oral, as well as of written, expression. 
The process of gaining complete mastery of knowledge be- 
comes, then, the process of exercising one ’; mind in the 
knowledge one has, evolving ideas or forming opinions from 
this mass of material or from one’s own unaided mind. This 
means that a student or an adult has laid upon him the obliga- 
tion of furnishing his mind before he can give out for the 
benefit or for the pleasure of others. Dr. Nicholas Murray 
Butler of Columbia University in his Annual Report of the 
President for 1924 says: 

“The present-day mocking appeal to an infant that he give 
expression to himself represents the abdication of education. 
This appeal might just as well be directed to a physical 
vacuum. . . . Much of the spoken English of both teachers 
and taught would assuredly affright even the Venerable Bede 
who was accustomed to simple beginnings.’’ Whether this 
stricture be deserved depends to some degree upon one’s point 
of view. It is certain, however, that until a student has some- 
thing to offer to the world, so to speak, he should not be ex- 
pected to achieve much success in oral expression. 

The first step to an efficient mastery of oral expression 1s, 
then, to make the student aware of the knowledge he has and 
to put him consciously in the way of securing more that he 
may make his own through assimilation. This borders on the 
ereat problem of how to induce or entice students in our 
secondary schools to think. Too many teachers are content to 
allow their students to come to an oral expression class reading 
the Literary Digest, in preparation for the work of the period, 
as they pass to the classroom. They come as some one has 
aptly said, ‘‘with their subject well in hand.’’ This sort of 
hand-to-mouth procedure is destructive of the full and well- 
rounded periods that might be heard in the English class in 


ORAL EXPRESSION IN THE ENGLISH PROGRAM 109 


oral expression. Teachers of English, and teachers of the 
social sciences, the physical sciences, and other subjects offer- 
ing a body of knowledge and stimulating thought, can do 
much for their students that will help the entire teaching 
procedure by requiring their students to assimilate informa- 
tion and to store it up in the recesses of the mind for future 
use. All of this material should be utilized in the oral expres- 
sion classes. To this should be added such information as stu- 
dents gather especially for the class in oral expression, but 
this must be well digested and articulated with material 
already in mind. ; 

Out of this wealth of material students should be required 
to talk, and no individual oral recitation should be considered 
complete that does not require students to build up their 
exposition or their arguments in that way. Too often this 
phase of oral expression is almost entirely lost sight of, and 
English teachers then pay too little attention to the subject 
matter and by the same token too much attention to ‘‘sound- 
ing brass and tinkling cymbals.’’ Recitations in oral expres- 
sion are in many instances meaningless for this very reason. 
Little progress can be made in the how of oral expression 
until more attention is given to the what. 

Knowledge, as material to be presented orally, is in its 
natural state mostly unorganized in a student’s mind. An- 
other problem of the oral expression teacher, and one that is 
likewise often ignored, is this problem of the organization 
of material for oral exercises. The question oftentimes be- 
comes one as to whether this organization shall be made with 
the aid of paper and pencil or whether it shall be done 
mentally. This is much the same question that confronts the 
reader who is skilled in gathering ideas from the printed 
page. Shall he organize this material so that he can see the 
organization or shall he depend upon his memory to help him 
recall the facts? One of the greatest needs in the business 


110 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


world is organization, and organization, when perfected, 
oftentimes takes care of administration. So in the mental 
world and in the matter of oral expression, one of the greatest 
needs is the organization of one’s knowledge. 

The first step in this organization is a right perspective 
in the pupil’s mind. He must see ‘‘with the mind’s eye’’ all 
the material which has any bearing upon the chief phase of 
the question he is to discuss. He must next select and elimi- 
nate material until he has determined just what is necessary 
to develop this main idea. Then from this mass of material 
at his disposal, he can make an outline, in the early years on 
paper, in the later years mentally, that shall show the relation 
of parts and the subordination of the less important facts to 
the more important. This is organization for effective oral 
presentation. 

It may seem to some that so far little if any special attention 
has been given to the real matter of oral expression. That is 
true if one believes that a person can be trained to talk when 
he has nothing to say. Some people talk in this way, but 
this procedure should not be encouraged in school. The third 
step in this process of oral expression, however, is presentation. 
What are the qualities of effective oral presentation of any- 
thing in real life? They are, first, the quality of proper 
enunciation; second, the quality of voice control; third, the 
quality of pleasing delivery. 

Proper enunciation is placed first among these qualities, 
for unless a person speaks so that he may be heard and 
understood, he fails to communicate no matter how excellent 
his material may be. One must be able to hear and to under- 
stand in order to appreciate. This is true in life, and it is 
equally true in school. A fundamental skill in oral expression 
is the ability to enunciate, articulate one’s words, clearly. 
The attainment of this skill involves a knowledge of pro- 
nunciation, a mastery of one’s vocal organs at least to the 


ORAL EXPRESSION IN THE ENGLISH PROGRAM 111 


extent that one can control lips, tongue and teeth, a sense of 
the cubic space one must fill, and a will to speak with pre- 
cision. Where these are present, it is likely there will be 
clear enunciation. This cannot always be predicted, however, 
especially if the person speaking be a foreigner with a native 
accent or a person with some physical deformity of the vocal 
organs. These pupils must undergo a special training which, 
on the whole, cannot be guaranteed in the regular work 
in oral expression when the teacher is dealing with pupils in 
the mass. 

In addition to proper enunciation something definite must 
be attributed to the qualities of voice control and to proper 
delivery. These include the ability to look the listener straight 
in the face, when necessary, in speaking to him; the ability, 
when addressing a small group, to assume a posture that is 
not displeasing; the ability to speak with liveliness—with 
expression that will raise the discourse above the dead 
level of monotony. These are all simple matters, well within 
the compass of the average capable teacher of English, even 
though she lack specific training in the art of public speak- 
ing. Training much beyond what has been indicated already, 
belongs to a special department of public speaking rather than 
to the regular work in oral expression. 

While it is the special function of work in oral expression 
to develop in the future American people an ‘‘acceptable or 
educated speech,’’ this ‘‘acceptable or educated speech’’ must, 
on the whole, be ‘‘the outgrowth of an education in general.’’ 
Insistence upon ‘‘acceptable or educated speech”’ is an obliga- 
tion devolving upon every classroom instructor in the second- 
ary school system. It is a job for the whole school, in every 
locality, all the time. Only practice in this matter will make 
perfect. And to fulfil this obligation every teacher, par- 
ticularly every teacher of English, must be an example of 
that ‘‘acceptable or educated speech.’’ 


SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPEAKING 
AND WRITING 


GILES WILKESON GRAY 
University of Iowa 


In recent years it has come to be generally thought that 
bodily activity and the way we speak words have perhaps as 
much to do with speech, are as much a part of communication, 
as the words we speak. The first writing, according to some 
authorities, consisted of making pictures in the air with the 
hands; the first reading consisted of interpreting the gestures 
which in themselves constituted the earliest language, and 
which we now include under the general term speech. To put 
it another way, the first writing was simply a form of gesture- 
speech, dependent upon the same impulse and factors that 
gave rise to verbal speech. 

During the ages of development of writing and speaking, 
writing made a considerable departure from the original unity 
of the two; but with the invention of the alphabet, and the 
consequent possibility of recording the sounds of a word, 
instead of a pictured presentation of an idea, means were 
afforded for bringing them together again. Since that time 
advances in writing have been in the direction of restoring 
that unity; we tend to write more and more nearly as we 
speak. Speech has been much less affected by writing, so that 
we may say that speech has been the standard. At the present 
time, writing is governed quite largely by speech; writing 
which sounds poorly when read aloud is generally considered 
to be poor writing, that wbich sounds well is good. But this 

112 


SPEAKING AND WRITING 113 


is not the same as saying that all speech ‘‘reads well’’ in 
print, for that is not exactly true even of good, of effective, 
speaking. 

But there are still some differences; there is a gap between 
speaking and writing which may never be bridged. There 
are some distinctions that cannot be eliminated. Consider, 
in the first place, the media which we employ in the two 
means of communication. The writer is limited to words set 
down on the page in black and white. The meaning of the 
words thus set down is limited; when a writer says one thing, 
he says that one thing only. Ambiguity is one of the cardinal 
sins in writing. The reader has but one way of getting the 
meaning from those words: he sees them for what they are, 
considered in their relation to the other words of the sentence, 
and interprets them accordingly. 

The speaker is not limited in any such way. He uses words, 
but the meanings of those words may be modified, amplified, 
even entirely contradicted or nullified, by the way he speaks 
them, by his position, action and general behavior before his 
audience. Ambiguity is just as much of a sin for the speaker 
as for the writer, but by the use of his whole expressive 
mechanism he may alter those meanings without being in the 
least ambiguous. Instead of having only one connotation, 
a word may thus have a dozen. Not being lmited to the 
actual words themselves, the speaker may use one and the 
same sentence to mean many different things, depending on 
his skill. One’s manner when he speaks determines whether 
he is serious or joking; whether he wishes to be believed 
literally or otherwise. This is one of the reasons that while 
good writing must sound well, not all good speaking reads 
well.* 

1“¢Mew need to be told that the effect of the most perfect com- 


position may be entirely destroyed, even by a delivery that does not 
render it unintelligible:—that one, which is inferior both in matter and 


114 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


In the second place, consider the differences in the situations 
that must be met. The writer is communicating to an in- 
visible audience, who cannot catch the subtleties of his manner 
as he pens the words, as can the visible audience of the speaker 
as he utters them. The reader can peruse at leisure, going 
back over each sentence, if necessary, to cull meanings that 
he does not get the first time. No such opportunity is allowed 
the hearer. He must get. those meanings the first time, or 
they are lost; if he tries to go back, then the succeeding sen- 
tences have slipped by. The reader can vary his rate of 
reading to suit himself; but the hearer must follow at the 
pace set by the speaker. The reader may shut himself away 
so as to minimize distracting stimuli; but the audience must 
take what comes by way of disturbing noises and other con- 
fusing factors. These interruptions may, and usually do, 
greatly hinder the hearer in following the thought of the 
speaker, but the reader can close his book for the time being, 
and return to it at a more favorable moment. Because of 
this, the writer need not take into consideration such dis- 
tractions ; but the speaker who does not is courting disaster. 

The writer can, at any time, address any audience, real or 
imaginary. But the speaker always faces a definite audience, 
a definite situation and a specific problem. While the writer, 
because he has only words at his disposal, will express the 
same idea in much the same way, the speaker, having much 
more extensive resources at his command, may resort to many 
ways to convey the same meaning, varying with the particular 
situations that must be met on different occasions. He must 


style, may produce, if better spoken, a more powerful effect than another 
which surpasses it in both of these points; and that even such an Elocu- 
tion as does not spoil the effect of what is said, may yet fall far short 
of doing justice to it.’’—Whately, Elements of Khetoric, Part IV, Chap- 
ter 1. 


SPEAKING AND WRITING 115 


therefore communicate his ideas and feelings to a definite 
audience, temporally and spatially present, while the writer 
communicates with a much more indefinite group, remote in 
space, and more or less so in time. 

Furthermore, it is seldom, if ever, that a writer must take 
into consideration his readers as a group. People do their 
reading for themselves, and mostly by themselves, singly and 
individually. While a book or an article may be intended 
to be read by many thousands, yet each one of those thousands 
will read it to himself, usually apart from the influence of 
those around him, and certainly removed from a great number 
of other persons who are reading the same thing. There is 
not the group consciousness in any aggregate of readers, how- 
ever small, that there is in even the smallest number of 
listeners. Every voluntary crowd, and perhaps every crowd 
of any kind, has some unifying element, some one thing that 
has been operative in bringing them together. Because of 
this feeling of group unity in an audience, this group con- 
sciousness, the speaker must be fully aware of the fact that 
he is speaking, not to individuals solely, but to a number of 
individuals and at the same time to a more or less wnified 
group. 

These distinctions, to which may be added others, result 
in differences in the mode of handling a topic according to 
whether the presentation is to be spoken or written. Professor 
Woolbert, in his definitive treatment of this problem, has 
pointed out a number of factors that are affected.? In the first 
place, there is a difference in idiom. A speaker may use terms 
that would hardly be thought dignified in print. He may 
take liberties which the writer dare not take. This is another 

2 Woolbert, Charles H., ‘‘Speaking and Writing,—a Study of Differ- 


ences.’’ Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, Vol. VIII, June, 1922, 
D2; 


116 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


reason that a speech which has pleased an audience, and 
has produced results, may sound thin and perhaps incon- 
sistent when it is read. 

Similarly, the speaker may use expressions that would 
shock the reader; he may go further with less danger of 
offending propriety than can the writer. Thus, as Professor 
Woolbert says, ‘‘ Usage for speaking is clearly not what it 1s 
for writing. ... When we do not see the face of the man 
whose stuff we read, we insist that he shall take no lberties 
with us; whereas if we have a good look at his countenance and 
bearing we know how to accept him.”’ 

Syntax is a third factor that varies in speaking and writing. 
The latter must conform to definite rules of syntax, or the 
meaning is obscured; while the former can depart much 
further from those established rules, because of the numerous 
other elements that enter into the understanding of what is 
being said. 

The style of speaking most frequently used, and generally 
considered to be the best for most occasions, is extemporaneous, 
This has its effect on diction. The speaker must take the 
word that comes to him, whether it is exactly the one he wants 
or not. But if it does not suit, he can go back, repeat his 
idea in other words until the right expression comes to him. 
Webster is said to have very noticeably resorted to such a 
device whenever he had difficulty in getting the right word 
to fit his meaning. This process of selection goes on within 
the hearing of the audience, and the careful speaker will not 
hesitate to make such a selection before proceeding. The 
writer, on the other hand, is under no compulsion to put down 
at once the first word that comes to him; if he does, he can 
revise, rewrite, polish, and select at will. But when he has 
finally chosen, he obliterates all traces of his search, and all 
that the reader sees is the final wording. Hence we find in 
speaking an informality that seldom appears in the best 


SPEAKING AND WRITING 117 


writing. Obviously the speaker needs a large vocabulary ; 
but the difficulty is that under the stress of a speaking situa- 
tion, even the best speakers find that words may slip from 
them. Under such a circumstance, do they then hesitate, and 
stammer, and rush to the thesaurus or dictionary? On the 
other hand, they go ahead, taking the word that comes, and 
depending on other elements to make their meaning clear, 
or on revising as they go along. But on the whole, it may be 
said that diction of speaking is somewhat more simple than 
that of writing. 

This informality affects the sentence structure itself. For 
example, in writing one must follow certain rather well- 
defined rules of emphasis, as well as of syntax. In speaking, 
however, emphasis depends not so much on the word order 
as upon attendant physical factors such as force, pitch, and 
action. Even in good speaking we sometimes find that the 
sentences are, as has been said, ‘‘weak and aimlessly in- 
volved.’’* The same writer points out that ‘‘we are prone 
to begin the expression of a thought before we are quite sure 
of what the thought is. After our sentence is begun we have 
to throw in a parenthesis, or let a modifier trail along in an 
ineffective position, or we become so involved that we must 
start over again or go back to pick up the main thread of 
our construction.’’ This is not the most effective speaking, 
and yet much speaking that is effective falls into the sentence 
patterns just described. Generally, the aim should be in the 
direction of greater simplicity in the sentence structure. Re- 
membering that the audience will have no opportunity of 
going back over any part, the speaker must be more careful 
to see that it is not necessary. He must so construct his sen- 
tences, and so deliver them, that their meaning is clear at 
once. 


® Parrish, Wayland Maxfield, ‘‘The Style of Extemporaneous Speech.’’ 
Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, Vol. IX, November, 1923, p. 345. 


118 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


While good writing must usually read well aloud, the 
speaker, even more than the writer, should regard the sounds 
of the words he uses. A succession of sibilants, for example, 
does not strike the ear favorably, unless for a definite purpose. 
Alliteration may occasionally be used with telling effect, as 
in poetry; but a combination of rime and rhythm is likely 
to be ridiculous. Then, too, the rounder, more ‘‘open’’ vowels 
carry better than do the ‘‘close’’ vowels, besides possessing 
the further advantage of inducing a greater degree of vocal 
relaxation in the audience. It might not be amiss to mention 
in passing that in reading, the beauty of a passage is in terms 
of the reader’s own vocal expression. 

These differences are fundamental; they are due to the very 
nature of writing and speaking. Because of them, and in 
these respects, the two activities will always remain separate 
and distinct; because of these differences, speaking is a far 
different thing from ‘‘oral English’’ or ‘‘oral composition.’’ 
It is—speech. 


THE RHETORIC OF SPOKEN DISCOURSE 


HOYT H. HUDSON 
Swarthmore College 


In the classrooms of Rome and of medieval and Renais- 
sance Europe, the subject of rhetoric was usually studied in 
five divisions. With considerable common sense the teachers 
pointed out that a speaker must first find his subject-matter, 
then arrange it, then phrase and embellish it, then memorize 
the resultant draft, and finally deliver the speech. The stu- 
dent, therefore, must study: (1) Inventio, how to find argu- 
ments and material for speeches; (2) Dispositio, how to ar- 
range the materials found; (3) Elocutio, how to phrase one’s 
thoughts in proper and euphonious language; (4) Memoria, 
how to memorize; (5) Pronuntiatio, how to deliver speeches. 

The fourth of these divisions seems to have received the 
least attention in the traditional discipline; and for some 
centuries it has been practically neglected. The reign of 
written composition and, more recently, emphasis upon 
extemporaneous speaking at the expense of memorized have 
tended to keep down interest in the subject. The classical 
treatment of memoria, it may be mentioned, survives with 
little change in several non-academic courses in memory- 
training. Now we are beginning, in the light of recent ex- 
perimentation, to recover our confidence that instruction on 
how to memorize is helpful; and we find memoria regaining 
its valid place in our field. 

Turning to the four remaining divisions of traditional 
rhetoric, we see that in the practice of the last few genera- 

119 


120 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


tions the first three—invention, disposition, and rhetorical 
style '—have been very nearly monopolized by, and practi- 
cally identified with, written composition. The last of the 
original five, delivery, has been turned over to teachers of 
speaking, sometimes with the implication that it should be 
their entire stock in trade. In returning to emphasis upon 
speaking in our rhetorical discipline, we need not attempt to 
wrest away from written composition anything that rightfully 
belongs to it. We can maintain, however, that instruction 
in these three divisions—invention, disposition, and rhetorical 
style—should be carried on in connection with both written 
and spoken composition. 

We can go further and say that in some phases these im- 
portant steps in composition are taught most fruitfully in 
connection with public speaking. Let us attempt a compari- 
son, as fair as we can make it, on a few points. The step 
of invention, for instance, stands much the same whether 
the composition finally is to be written or spoken. It may 
be said that such a factor as the observation of nature and 
of human conduct, an important branch of invention, is best 
developed in connection with such typical written forms as 
description and narration. For both written and spoken 
discourse the student must learn how to collect materials in 
a library and how to draw upon his personal experiences. 
Yet the dynamics of invention, the use of associational trains 
of thought, the power quickly to see a subject in its bearings, 
to apply the topics of definition and division, and to summon 

*There is no good English equivalent for the Latin. ‘‘elocutio,’’ as 
used in rhetoric-books for sixteen or eighteen centuries. ‘‘ Elocution’’ 
has been used, but it is spoiled for us by its identification with the study 
of delivery. ‘‘Elocutio’’ meant the study of wording and embellish- 
ment, including figures of speech and forms of arrangement (such as 
antithesis), sentence-structure, rhythm, and euphony. Our term ‘‘die- 
tion’’ is too narrow. ‘‘Style’’ is too broad and is of debatable signifi- 
cance itself. I am therefore using ‘‘rhetorical style.’’ 


THE RHETORIC OF SPOKEN DISCOURSE 12] 


analogies—these are most likely to be the possession of the 
student practised in debating and in extemporaneous speak- 
ing. 

Disposition, or arrangement, likewise belongs to both 
written and oral composition; but surely its function is more 
obvious—more easily taught and more easily grasped—in the 
preparation of speeches. This is not said to discount the 
teaching of logical order in description and narration ; it can 
be taught and is, often very well. Yet logical order in 
description and narration tends, at best, to be a somewhat 
subtle and elusive thing, a little hard for students without 
literary bent to grasp, and not appealing to such students as 
very useful or important. More can be done, to be sure, with 
the outline, or plan, in connection with written exposition 
and argument. Yet even here the tendency on the part of 
students is to think of the outline as a luxury rather than a 
necessity, as a teacher-invented device for increasing the 
difficulty of an assignment, rather than as an organic step 
in the process of ‘‘getting something over.’’ This view dis- 
appears when the task is extemporaneous speaking. The out- 
line now assumes the aspect of a friend in need. It reveals 
itself as an organic part of the composition, and continues 
functioning as such until the last word of the speech is de- 
livered. A written composition may ‘‘scatter’’ or trail off 
inconclusively, and it may be possible to point out its short- 
comings to the writer. But a speech that scatters or trails 
off stands revealed with all its defects obvious upon it. 

If in the two foregoing paragraphs the scales have inclined 
in favor of public speaking, in this one the balance may be 
restored. Matters of diction and sentence-structure—all that 
we classify either as the ‘‘fine points’’ or as the minutio 
of style—can be dealt with most profitably in connection with 
practice in writing. ‘‘Reading maketh a full man, conference 
a ready man, writing an exact man.’’ Certainly the qualities 


122 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


of correctness and propriety are likely to suffer from con- 
stant oral practice divorced from writing—though of course 
it never should be so divorced. Yet it is conceivable that 
vividness and clearness might be made to flourish in the 
public speaking classroom. In the matter of copiousness of 
diction, individual variations make a great difference: where- 
as one student can and will find words and uses for new 
words in oral discussion, another will be tongue-tied and 
groping there, attaining fluency only with pen in hand. In 
advanced work in public speaking, to be sure, the study of 
style is a very proper one: for euphony and rhythm are oral 
qualities, and the final test of written discourse is reading it 
aloud ‘‘to see how it sounds.’’ Yet little can be made of 
these facts in a secondary school classroom, unless it be by 
way of an occasional memorized speech or by use of selections 
from oral masterpieces for memorizing and analysis. 

Let us return for a moment to the subject of invention. 
Increased work in public speaking cannot fail to carry with 
it renewed emphasis upon inventive thinking. What does 
this term mean? I should say that it means the use of certain 
patterns of thought, certain devices for thinking fruitfully 
about a subject. ‘‘It is worse than useless,’’ Henry Seidel 
Canby has written, ‘‘to spend time in learning to write unless 
one is willing to search for and capture thought.’’ He then 
proceeds to set down five ‘‘means of thought development”’: 
definition, division, specification (details), comparison and 
contrast, and reasoning (inductive and deductive). Teachers 
of written composition have long used inventive patterns in 
connection with paragraph-development. They have not 
merely said, ‘‘Write a paragraph about this subject,’’ but 
they have taught methods of developing a paragraph from a 
topic sentence, presenting these methods as aids to invention. 

Our texts have not wholly slighted the subject of invention, 
though too often they have unduly subordinated it. Professor 


THE RHETORIC OF SPOKEN DISCOURSE 123 


EK. E. Clippinger in his Composition and Kkhetoric treats 
Exposition under the heads of Exposition by Division and 
Exposition by Definition, including under the second, logical 
definition, informal definition, definition by iteration, by gen- 
eral and specific examples, by comparison, by causes and 
effects, by enumerating general characteristics, and by gen- 
eralized narration. An excellent set of inventive patterns! 
Those familiar with Phillips’ Effective Speaking will recall 
that author’s ‘‘Forms of Support,’’ restatement, general il- 
lustration, specific instance, and testimony, as well as his 
other aids to the prospective speaker’s invention. In Harold 
Bruce’s essay on “‘ Thinking and Writing’’? we find a set of 
patterns very like that given by Clppinger, but presented 
more suggestively in the form of questions: 


(1) Does this topic need to be said over? 

(2) Does any term in it need to be defined? 

(3) Does it need to be divided? 

(4) Is there any reason why it is true or a result of its being true? 
(5) Are there specific and convincing cases of it? 

(6) Is it like some other idea or situation? 

(7) Is it unlike some other idea or situation? 

(8) Does it need to be detailed? 


The speech-outline or plan itself may be considered as a 
set of aids to invention. Looking back at Professor Canby’s 
‘‘means of thought development’’ or at the list of questions 
just quoted, one finds more than a suggestion of the standard 
form of a brief. As soon as one undertakes to plan even the 
simplest sort of speech, one must begin answering such ques- 
tions as these: How shall I lead up to my subject? How 
shall I state the subject, and my attitude toward it? How 
shall I support my attitude? What are the principal objec- 
tions to be overcome? What specifie action, if any, shall I 


In Bruce and Montgomery’s The New World, College Readings in 
English, Macmillan, 1924, p. 19. 


124 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


urge? How shall I conclude? And perhaps all we are saying 
about invention can be summed in the statement that the 
teaching of oral discourse necessarily puts emphasis upon 
the preparation of a composition rather than upon its cor- 
rection. Our composition-books are full of rules to be applied 
ex post facto for the correction or revision of written dis- 
course, Let our courses in public speaking suggest tried and 
sound methods for the production of oral discourse, and the 
same methods will be found useful in the production of 
written discourse, as well as in all tasks of constructive 
thinking. 

Nothing need be said here about the essentials of a speech, 
as a form; with these we are familiar. Since the speech is a 
definite form, it should be kept sharply separate from all 
other exercises and drills. Beside the speech, the most useful 
oral form for classroom practice is the redaction, or report. 
One of the weaknesses of our oral work has been the failure 
to keep separate the redaction from the speech and to allow 
to it a place of its own. That is, we have accepted as a speech 
what was really a report or paraphrase of some magazine 
article. If the redaction were given a separate place, then it 
would no longer be available as the subterfuge of the dila- 
tory student. Beside the use of articles for this purpose, 
oral redactions of speeches heard, or of printed speeches and 
debates, should be undertaken. Accuracy, impartiality, and 
a sense of proportion are the qualities aimed at in redactions. 
A student trained to look for the main points in an article 
he reports upon has gone far toward learning to find the 
issues in an argument, and he has practice which will stand 
him in good stead when he wishes to summarize an opponent’s 
argument for rebuttal. Most teachers also assign narrative 
redactions, as practice in story-telling. 

If narration and description are to appear in speeches, 
they should somehow be subordinated to the rhetorical forms 


THE RHETORIC OF SPOKEN DISCOURSE = 125 


and purposes suitable for speeches; that is, they should be 
put in an expository or argumentative framework, slight as 
this need be. ‘‘A Vacation Experience,’’ told barely, without 
introduction and without moral drawn or generalization made, 
is not a speech. It is a suitable exercise, perhaps, but not a 
speech. And one of the best things we can do is to show 
students how they can draw upon their vacation experiences 
for illustrations and for enforcement of points made in 
speeches. Instead of having a student talk on ‘‘My Trip 
through the Western Part of the State,’’ let this trip suggest 
to him that there are many interesting places in his State 
which others would enjoy visiting. Then let him make his 
speech on the subject, ‘‘See Your Own State First.’’ Simi- 
larly, the boy who has worked at an interesting occupation 
throughout the summer need not begin and end by merely 
telling what he did, but let him use his experience as subject- 
matter in a speech with broader appeal, such as might be 
made on the subject, ‘‘How to Go On Learning During Va- 
cation.’’ 

As a summary of the points I have tried to emphasize, 
and as an acknowledgment of indebtedness, I shall borrow 
the final paragraph of Professor Charles Sears Baldwin’s 
article on ‘‘Rhetoric’’ in Monroe’s Cyclopedia of Education: 

‘‘Recent discussions of rhetorical theory have brought for- 
ward three main ideas: (1) that beneath the accepted four- 
fold division of composition lies a more fundamental twofold 
division into what may be called logical composition (argu- 
ment and exposition) on the one hand, and, on the other, 
literary composition (narration and description); (2) that 
writing should be so taught in college as to stimulate and 
train thinking, in order to make rhetoric more effectively the 
organon of all studies; (8) that in both school and college, 
rhetoric needs for the full realization of its function the 
recovery of oral composition. It should surprise no one to 


126 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


reflect that all three are ideas of classical rhetoric. The third 
is obviously a return toward the schools of Greece and Rome. 
The second is hardly less a return to the classical emphasis on 
inventio. The first is the ancient distinction between rhetorie 
and poetic. For rhetoric is so old that it made its educational 
survey early along permanent lines of human nature.’’ 


SPEECH PLANS AND OUTLINES 


G. ROWLAND COLLINS 
New York University 


Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks of the teacher of 
Pubhe Speaking in the secondary school is to influence the 
pupil to a belief that a certain amount of written work is 
necessary as a basis for effective oral work. This difficulty 
is apparent even when the written work requested is merely 
a speech plan or outhne. And yet, nothing is more funda- 
mental to the effective communication of ideas for the purpose 
of securing a desired, unified effect on the hearer than those 
elements of analysis involved in the construction of a plan 
of presentation. 

The aim of the secondary school teacher in requesting the 
use of speech plans and outlines should be to put before the 
pupil the idea of public speaking as an objective task. The 
construction and use of a plan or outline makes possible the 
effective direction of a purpose of central aim at a particular 
audience on a particular occasion. The teacher should show 
the pupil that there are very few speech occasions which 
permit of subjective meanderings on the part of the speaker. 
Ordinarily, the speaker cannot say anything that haphazardly 
comes into his mind and that for the moment pleases his 
imagination. The proper construction of a plan in advance 
of speaking and the proper use of a plan in the actual speak- 
ing process helps to check any tendency to wander subject- 
ively down by-streets and up blind alleys. Without planning, 
speeches are effective only by chance; because the speaker’s 

127 


128 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


intuitions are unusually keen, or because he covers the case 
by sheer exhaustiveness, or because he talks to listeners who 
are quick to see unexplained values. The teacher needs to set 
up objective speaking as the aim and to present the construc- 
tion and use of speech plans as one means of securing and 
preserving the objective point of view. 

Then, too, the teacher needs to present speech planning as 
an available means of -avoiding the dangers of extempore 
speaking. As an ideal, extempore speaking is fundamental. 
Extempore speaking, however, must not be allowed to degen- 
erate until it involves impromptu thinking. It must not place 
a premium upon a kind of facile fluency in the use of words. 
It must, rather, be preceded by thorough preparation. The 
chief dangers of poorly prepared extempore speaking are in- 
consistent statements, undue emphasis on unimportant points, 
and presentation of irrelevant material. These dangers can 
be reduced to a minimum by requiring the construction and 
use of speech plans and outlines. The teacher should disabuse 
the pupil of any notion that if the preparation of a speech is 
quickly done it is well done. He should demonstrate by 
example that the finest productions of great speakers’ minds 
have seldom, if ever, been the fruits of sudden inspiration, 
the chance visitations of a fortunate moment, or the God- 
given flashings of intuition. 

The need of a speech plan or outline, then, is a twofold 
need. In the first place, the speaker needs to have a guide 
and a fixed record of his purpose. And in the second place, 
the speaker needs a plan to enable him to make a preliminary 
test of what speech material should be included in the final 
presentation. 

The teacher should strive to show the pupil that a fixed 
record and guide for a purpose is just as important to a 
speaker as it is to a worker in any of the other useful arts, 
like architecture, watch-making, or the designing of fashion- 


SPEECH PLANS AND OUTLINES 129 


able gowns. In this need, effective speaking is in exactly the 
Same position as is effective writing. In his essay on Style, 
Pater says that the writer should have ‘‘that architectural 
conception of work, which foresees the end in the beginning 
and never loses sight of it, and in every part is conscious of 
all the rest till the last sentence does but, with undiminished 
vigor, unfold and justify the first.’? Such must be the aim 
of the speaker as well. 

Likewise, the teacher should emphasize the need of a speech 
plan or outline, for the purpose of testing the relevancy, 
the consistency, and the relative persuasiveness of the avail- 
able subject-matter. Without a plan there is little oppor- 
tunity to make a preliminary test of subject-matter distantly 
related to the purpose, or not related to it at all. Without 
a plan many inconsistent bits of subject-matter slip into the 
speech, any one of which when recognized by the hearer may 
preclude the acceptance of the speaker’s purpose. Without a 
plan undue emphasis to minor details in the actual presenta- 
tion of the speech is almost inevitable. 

Probably the most important standard to be desired in 
teaching the construction and the use of speech plans and 
outlines is a standard or wniform form of the plan or outline. 

Three types of plans are commonly taught: (1) the topical 
or running outline, (2) the expository plan, and (3) the 
full-sentence plan (sometimes called the Summary plan). 
Short examples of these plans follow. 


I. TopPican 


What a College Education Does for a Student. 
1. Enforces habits of study. 
2, Cultivates concentration. 
3. Creates a fund of knowledge. 


*A discussion of each type with more complete examples may be 
found in Brown and Barnes, The Art of Writing English, American Book 
Company, pp. 166-168. 


130 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


4. Develops a sound body. 
5. Creates respect for economy. 
6. Ete., ete. 


II, Expository 


What a College Education Does for a Student. 
1. A college education develops intellectual power. 
A. By enforcing habits of study. 
B. By cultivating the ability to concentrate the mind. 
C. By creating a fund of working knowledge. 
2. A college education establishes character. 
A. By developing a sound body. 
B. By creating a respect for economy. 
1. In the use of time. 
2. In the use of energy. 


3. Hte., ete, 


III. FULL-SENTENCE (SUMMARY) 
What a College Education Does for a Student. 


INTRODUCTION 
1. The value of a college education depends upon what the college 
ean do for a student. 
2. College training should be of value. 


DISCUSSION 

1. The first purpose of a college education is to develop intellectual 
power. 

2. The beginning of this power lies in the enforced systematic study 
that a college education requires. 

3. It is further increased through the resultant ability to concen- 
trate the mind. 

4. Again, it is increased through the enlarged fund of working 
knowledge with which organized study provides the mind. 

5. Ete., ete. 


CONCLUSION 
College training is valuable to a serious student. 


Of these three types of speech plans or outlines, the full- 
sentence outline should be the standard taught and required 


SPEECH PLANS AND OUTLINES 131 


of pupils in Public Speaking. As is stated elsewhere in the 
Report of the Committee on Syllabus, ‘‘The function of speech 
and composition outlines are not identical, Topical outlines 
suitable as sketches of articles to be fully developed in writing 
are not acceptable for speeches. Speech outlines require com- 
plete statements.’’ The construction of the full-sentence out- 
line most effectively meets the needs of speech planning. Both 
the topical and expository plans fail to check any tendency 
to give undue emphasis to minor points. In this respect, of 
course, the topical outline is even more deficient than the 
expository plan. The full-sentence plan in its best develop- 
ment may well be a sequence of the topic sentences of the 
paragraphs that will make up the speech. This is what 1s 
meant by the summary plan. The material for each para- 
graph is brought into the form of a declarative sentence. 
Such a summary plan tests the unity of the paragraph and 
the coherence of the entire speech. It enables the speaker to 
see the order and proportion of the whole speech and it indi- 
cates the necessary transitions from paragraph to paragraph. 
To avoid fumbling hesitancy in speaking, the speaker needs a 
full set of declarative sentences that tell exactly what they 
stand for, that completely express ideas. He takes his outline 
or plan with him to his task, on paper, or on cards, or in his 
mind. Consequently he should have in his plan complete 
statements, definite in meaning, around which to work out 
his development. The full-sentence or summary outline 
should be the standard. 

The use of a brief as a speech plan should not be advised 
or encouraged. Because of training in Argumentation and 
Debate, teachers frequently do carry over the brief form to 
pupils in classes in Public Speaking as an acceptable and 
suitable form for use as a speech plan. However, even in 
Argumentation and Debate, the brief should not be closely fol- 
lowed in the actual presentation of the speech. The function 


132 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


of the brief is not one of synthesis or presentation, but rather 
one of logical analysis. The brief is a final record of the 
speaker’s analysis. It sets down all the available propositions, 
coordinated and subordinated, in their proper logical rela- 
tionships. The point of view in the construction of a brief is 
a detached and logical scrutiny of the available subject- 
matter. Hven in contest debating, effective presentation is 
more a matter of psychology than it is a matter of logic. And 
in most ordinary speech situations a psychological presenta- 
tion is still more necessary. No matter how well a brief may 
be constructed, effective presentation is seldom possible with- 
out a speech plan in addition. The brief simply spreads the 
entire subject-matter in its logical relationships before the 
pupil. From it he may pick and choose in building a speech 
plan or outline. With the brief before him he can effectively 
use his material in the light of the particular purpose he 
has in mind and of the particular audience to which he is to 
speak. 
Take the following brief, for example. 


FINAL EXAMINATIONS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 


INTRODUCTION 

A. Final examinations are written tests of the work done in each 
study, and are given at the end of the term. 

B. It is admitted (a) that there is a certain strain on both mind and 
body, especially on the part of nervous pupils; and (b) that 
final examinations do not determine the value of the work done 
with absolute certainty. 

C. The question at issue is: Are final examinations, in spite of 
these two objections, of sufficient value to warrant their intro- 
duction into this High School? 


DISCUSSION 
I. Final examinations are useful to the teacher, because 
1. They afford the best possible opportunity for finding how 
well the pupils understand their work. 
2. They show him the weak points in his own teaching. 


SPEECH PLANS AND OUTLINES 133 


II. Final examinations are useful to the pupil, because 
1. They are of equal value with the marks given for daily 
recitations, because 
a. In recitations, the pupil has to think quickly or fail. 
b. In recitations, all pupils are not asked the same question. 
2. They enable the pupil to find out where he is weak, because 
a. They encourage rapid and intelligent reviewing. 
3. They improve the daily work of the pupil, because 
a. The knowledge that the examination must be met will 
influence the pupil to study with an eye to permanent 
knowledge rather than to temporary information. 
III, Final examinations have stood the test for years, and are in 
wide use in high schools all over the country. 
IV. Ete., ete. 


CONCLUSION 
I. Since final examinations are useful to the teacher; and 
II. Since final examinations are useful to the pupil; and 
III, Since final examinations have stood the test of years; and 
IV. Since, ete. 
Therefore: A system of final examinations should be introduced 
into this High School. 


Such a formal briefing of the speech material, even if far 
more complete, will not necessarily make a good speech plan. 
It may not be the best psychological plan. It is merely a 
content or logic plan—a final record of the speaker’s analysis 
of subject-matter. It should be judged as a good brief or as 
a poor brief on the basis of the completeness and accuracy 
of the pupil’s analysis of subject-materials and on the cor- 
rectness of the form of his record. From it the plan should 
be constructed. If the speech is to be addressed to high school 
pupils the speech plan might be something like this: 


FINAL EXAMINATIONS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 


INTRODUCTION 
A. Final examinations in the high school put a nervous strain upon 
the pupils being examined. 
B. Final examinations are desirable in spite of the strain on mind 
and body. . 


134 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


DISCUSSION 
1. Final examinations are used and accepted by most high school 
pupils. 
2. Final examinations are fair tests in that they ask all the 
pupils the same questions. 
3. Reviewing for final examinations develops the pupils’ ability 
to cover ground rapidly and effectively. 
4, Final examinations influence pupils to study with an eye to 
permanent knowledge rather than to temporary information. 
CONCLUSION 


The pupils of this High School should favor the introduction of a 
regular system for final examinations. 


The teacher should explain and demonstrate to the pupil 
the processes involved in constructing a speech plan. Three 
definite steps may well be set up as standard. They are: 
(1) the selection of points or propositions to be presented, 
(2) the arrangement of the selected points or propositions, 
and (3) the planning of the development of each point or 
proposition. The results of the last-named step will not, of 
course, actually appear in the written plan. But the step 
itself is certainly an integral part of any thorough-going or 
comprehensive planning. Deciding upon the development 
of each of the selected propositions involves some thought as 
to the necessary amount of support (proportion) for each and 
as to the best method to use in establishing each (testimony, 
experience, etc.). 

The standard factors which condition the planning are: 
(1) the speaker’s purpose, and (2) the speaker’s audience. 
Just how far the secondary school teacher can go in requiring 
the pupil to adapt his plans to a particular purpose and to a 
particular audience is highly questionable. It is perhaps, 
sufficient, to demonstrate the importance of such adaptations, 
to suggest only general methods, and to criticize the efforts of 
the pupil with extreme leniency. 


SPEECH PLANS AND OUTLINES 135 


In the first and fundamental course so far as planning is 
concerned, the secondary school teacher should probably re- 
quire little more than the following: (1) a written plan to 
be handed in one or two class meetings before the actual 
presentation of any important speech, (2) the rewriting of 
any submitted plan which is incorrect in form, (3) the re- 
writing of any submitted plan which does not show some 
effort to make it appropriate to the pupil’s purpose, and (4) 
the repetition of any speech presentation which does not 
follow the prepared plan with some degree of faithfulness. 

One suggestion may be made with reference to point three 
which is stated above. Inappropriateness of plan and pur- 
pose should be judged by a consideration of the following 
questions : 

1. Is the plan too incomplete or is it unnecessarily com- 
prehensive for the accomplishment of the purpose? 

2. Is any irrelevant material included ? 

3. Are all the points or propositions stated in the plan 
mutually consistent ? 

4. Is the sequence of the points or propositions adapted 
to an easy accomplishment of the purpose? 

In other words, the teacher should use the beginning course 
in Public Speaking merely to introduce the construction and 
use of speech plans to the pupil. Correct form and suitable 
adaptation to purpose should be the essential considerations. 
The actual technique of selecting propositions to be presented 
and of arranging the selected propositions should be dealt 
with only in the relation of this technique to correct form 
and to suitable adaptation to purpose. 

In the second course attention should be given to the adap- 
tation of the plan to a particular audience ag well as to a 
particular purpose. The technique of various methods of 
developing propositions should be demonstrated as well as 
the technique of the selection and of the arrangement of 


136 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


propositions. The pupil should be encouraged to study 
specific speech occasions in an effort to forecast the general 
character of his audience so as to be better able to construct a 
plan which will reach it quickly and easily. Some emphasis 
should be placed on the choice of methods of development of 
the entire plan and of each proposition in the plan. 

The standards for the course in Argumentation and Debate 
should include those points mentioned above with one addi- 
tion. The teacher needs to make certain that the construction 
of the brief is somewhat distinct and apart from the con- 
struction of the speech plan. Plenty of training should be 
given in constructing speech plans from the completed brief 
with purpose and audience definitely in mind. 

Many methods of accomplishing the aims which have been 
outlined will suggest themselves to the progressive teacher. 
Some of the following methods are offered as having proved 
successful and in the hope of suggesting others. 

Exercises in planning which deal with the same topic but 
which are varied as to purpose will be most helpful in the 
fundamental course. 

Some of these exercises should be in the selection of the 
propositions to be presented. The following specimen assign- 
ment will exemplify the method: 


1. List in the form of declarative sentences all the points or proposi- 
tions you ean think of that justify ‘‘Interscholastic Debating.’’ Make 
this list as exhaustive as you can. 

2. Construct three speech plans on this subject, one for use in con- 
nection with each one of the following purposes. Try not to add any 
points other than those that appear on your original list, except, per- 
haps, some direct statements of your purpose. 

a. Your purpose is to secure a larger student attendance at your 
next interscholastic debate. 

b. Your purpose is to secure more candidates for the interscholastic 
debating teams. 

ec. Your purpose is to secure more student funds for interscholastie 
debating. 


SPEECH PLANS AND OUTLINES 137 


Likewise, exercises should be given which deal primarily 
with the arrangement of selected propositions. The following 
specimen is an example: 


1. Arrange the following points or propositions in the form of a 
speech plan suitable for: | 


a. A speech the purpose of which is to urge the faculty to engage 
a full-time director of physical training for your student body. 

b. A speech the purpose of which is to persuade such a director to 
eliminate interscholastie athletic contests. 


In each case use all of the following propositions and no more. 


1. Athletic games should be taught to the entire student body and 
not to a few team candidates alone. 

Training in athletics is desirable for all. 

Such training betters the physical condition. 

Games are better than gymnasiums for training purposes. 

There is a certain inspiration about competition in games. 

Such training teaches lessons of generalship and discipline. 
Expensive coaching is now employed to train the few. 

Winning for the sake of the school should be a secondary aim of 
School athletics. 

9. The aim of training in athletics should be play for play’s sake. 
10, England’s Rugby training is a good example of the ideal. 


GND 1 IR £9 Po 


Every effort should be made to encourage the criticism of a 
pupil’s planning by the other members of the class. One 
helpful method is to have a speaker write his plan and pur- 
pose on the blackboard and to give the class a few minutes 
to consider it both before and after he speaks. Each member 
of the class should be asked to write out, on some single slip 
of paper or card, a short criticism of the speaker’s construc- 
tion and use of the plan. These slips, each containing one 
pupil’s criticism, should be collected and given to the speaker. 
Very often, it is only when a teacher’s criticism is re- 
enforced by the majority of the individual written criticisms 
of the class, that a speaker comes to a full and serious realiza- 
tion of a certain weakness in his planning or in his use of a 
plan. 


138 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Numerous exercises should be given in constructing the 
probable plans of various speeches printed in collections suit- 
able for secondary school study. Some of these particular 
exercises should give the pupil time for the study of a printed 
speech and some should call for the execution of a suitable 
plan immediately after the reading of a speech to the class 
by the teacher. 

In the advanced work, the exercises mentioned above should 
be expanded to include attention to the audience factor and 
its influence upon speech planning. 

These exercises should provide special practice in all three 
of the steps in the construction of a speech plan, selecting 
the propositions, arranging the selected propositions, and 
planning the development of the selected propositions. In 
each, both the purpose and the audience should be considered. 
Planning the development of the propositions involves such 
matters as: (1) the amount of development necessary, and 
(2) the kind of development necessary, testimony, experi- 
ence, anecdote, imagery, ete. In considering these matters a 
large portion of the attention should be given to the speech 
plan as a whole and a lesser amount to the development of 
individual propositions. 

In courses in Argumentation and Debate, excellent practice 
in planning, and in fact in general analytical training, is 
possible by employing some such method as that which follows. 
The teacher should take some well-constructed brief and delib- 
erately mix its component propositions and omit all its con- 
nectives. He should then read these propositions to the class, 
or, what is better, list them straight down the blackboard. 
He should ask each pupil to arrange the propositions in the 
form of a logical brief as the first step in the exercise. He 
should then suggest a specific purpose and a specific audience 
and ask each pupil to construct a suitable speech plan from 
the brief, 


SPEECH PLANS AND OUTLINES 139 


A little careful thought will enable any teacher to construct 
enough exercises to keep the class plentifully supplied with 
methods of developing ability in planning. Just how far to 
go in the matter of the time to be devoted to this phase of 
Publie Speaking is a question which the teacher must decide 
in the light of all the minimum course standards to be 
achieved and of the native abilities and capacities of the 
individual class. 


THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS FOR STUDENT 
SPEECHES 


EVERETT L. HUNT 
Cornell University 


The degree of responsibility which a teacher of Publie 
Speaking should accept for the subject-matter of speeches 
presented by his students has long been a matter of discus- 
sion. ‘Teachers of rhetoric have been reproached for their 
tendency to assume the role of political scientists merely be- 
cause they are often occupied with the construction of 
speeches about political matters. The ancient sophists were 
attacked for deluding their pupils into the belief that be- 
cause they taught the art of arguing about all things, they 
were therefore masters of all knowledge. The growing de- 
partmentalization of education makes it increasingly neces- 
sary for every teacher to realize that he is but one among 
many ; and the teacher of Public Speaking who accepts respon- 
sibility for substance as well as form may be viewed by some 
as a trespasser. But when an instructor takes his mind from 
the policies and organization of his educational administra- 
tion, when he thinks less of his professional relations to his 
colleagues and more of the pupils he is trying to teach, many 
theoretical considerations seem to lose their importance; in 
the specific task of teaching John and Mary how to make 
speeches, the need for placing them in possession of suitable 
subject-matter is apparent. 

{n the first place, students are often entirely unable to 
speak without such aid. Their faculties are paralyzed at the 

140 


SUBJECTS FOR STUDENT SPEECHES 141 


thought of making a speech, and the slender resources they 
have are forgotten. Even with the best of students, the 
teacher must exercise the Socratic function of intellectual 
midwifery, and bring to hght the conceptions which the 
student is not clearly conscious of possessing. Perhaps an art 
of sympathetic and stimulating questioning is the most im- 
portant single aspect of the work of the teacher in providing 
suitable subject-matter for his students. This, of course, 
means that the teacher himself must know the characteristics 
of a good subject. 

In addition to the class of students who are merely tem- 
porarily confused by the thought of an approaching speech, 
there is a much larger class whose interests seem to supply 
few ideas of significance to any group, and whose capacities 
for the organization of thought are extremely limited. Here 
the teacher will often have to go beyond Socrates, and start 
the student upon some inquiry which will give him the ma- 
terial he lacks. 

These two processes, first, of questioning the student in 
the hope of finding that he already possesses suitable subject- 
matter, and second, of directing his investigation when it is 
evident that there must be an acquisition of new material, 
may seem to be merely unfortunate preliminaries, and not a 
part of the art of speaking, or of the teaching of speaking. 
But it is quite impossible to separate the subject-matter from 
the delivery or the composition of a speech. 

Consider first the effect of the consciousness of having 
something interesting to say upon the delivery of a speech. 
Whether a student, by exercises of voice and gesture, should 
cultivate a confident bearing in public, regardless of his 
ability to contribute anything of significance to the occasion, 
is a debatable question. Of course, it sometimes seems that 
those who have ideas are most deficient in the physical means 
of expression, and that the first thing to do is to start with 


142 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


the body, to make it a fit instrument of the mind. But any- 
one knows what effect a frail, awkward, or nervous body can 
produce when animated by a genuine desire to communicate 
an idea. Public speaking often seems to involve a struggle 
between the desire to communicate, and the inhibitions and 
repressions resulting from an appearance before an audience. 
The teacher may devote his attention to removing the feeling 
of strain and stress, or he may be more concerned with 
stimulating the impulse to communicate. If he does the 
former, he may center his attention on physical exercises, on 
voice and gesture, or on psychoanalysis; if the latter, he is 
likely to struggle with the subject-matter of the speech. When 
confronted with the question as to which is more important, 
or which should come first, the answer is that both are im- 
portant, and that both should receive attention in a course 
for beginners. The decisive factor should be, not the interest 
of the teacher, but the need of the student. It is probable 
that some effort is now wasted in both directions. Whenever 
a course is organized to do chiefly one thing or the other, 
because one is regarded as more *‘fundamental,’’ some student 
who needs to have his impulse to communicate stimulated by a 
discussion of significant ideas is probably spending his time 
in deep breathing, and exercises for relaxation; and con- 
trariwise, some student who has ideas, but no nervous control, 
is probably failing to get what he needs most. It is not the 
purpose of this discussion to argue the old question of matter 
and manner in speaking; it is merely to state that various 
devices for the suggestion of a subject-matter which will 
stimulate the impulse to communicate may be made an in- 
tegral part of the teaching of delivery. 

Subject-matter has no less an effect upon style in composi- 
tion. Much of the. teaching of oral composition ignores the 
differences between oral and written style. It seems to assume 
that any composition presented by word of mouth is a com- 


SUBJECTS FOR STUDENT SPEECHES 143 


municative and persuasive speech. Professor Woolbert, in 
the Quarterly Journal of Speech Education for June, 1922, 
has ably analyzed and discussed some differences between 
writing and speaking. The point here is to suggest that part 
of these differences have their origin in subject-matter. The 
student who is asked to speak about a summer day in a 
meadow, even if he can write an essay or a poem on the theme, 
is not likely to make a convincing speech. An art of com- 
position intent upon developing self-expression in the hope 
of producing a work of fine art is not likely to emphasize 
communication. ‘‘Oratory,’’ said John Stuart. Mill, ‘‘is 
heard ; poetry is overheard.’’ It is not likely that the teacher 
can give to his student an appreciation of all the subtle dis- 
tinctions in style that separate rhetoric from poetic, but he 
can prepare for a later understanding of these differences by 
insisting upon subject-matter appropriate to the art which 
he is teaching. 

Once within the field of subjects which might stimulate a 
student’s desire to communicate persuasively, there arises the 
question as to whether the subjects should be drawn from the 
knowledge he has already acquired, or whether he should be 
encouraged or compelled to find new material. If the teacher 
is interested chiefly in the student’s future development, in 
the speaking that will be done in after years, he may be in- 
clined to emphasize the broadening of old interests and the 
acquisition of new ones. He will want each speech to repre- 
sent an addition to the student’s stock of knowledge. This 
purpose sometimes results in a practice which encourages the 
student to make generalizations that, if not untrue, are at 
least unreal to him; he comes to regard a speech as a matter 
of appearing to be learned; and he may accept uncritically 
any ideas which will serve as something to talk about. All 
this, of course, affects style and delivery, and both may be- 
come stilted. But there are also objections to the opposite 


144 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


extreme. The student who speaks upon matters of which 
he already has intimate knowledge, will undoubtedly make a 
more successful speech. And it may well be urged that if 
the student develops his powers of expression to the point 
where they are adequate to interpret the knowledge and 
experience he has acquired, more will have been accomplished 
than can be hoped for in most courses. But if the aim is 
limited to this, the whole emphasis in speech-making is thrown 
upon matters of form. While these might well occupy the 
entire time a student has for such a course, it is difficult to 
get him to take technical problems with seriousness. A com- 
promise is probably necessary, and the best subject would 
seem to be one about which the student already has some 
knowledge, but which will demand further investigation. 

As the curriculum tends to be more and more closely related 
to the life of the community, the contacts with significant 
subjects for public speaking are constantly increasing. The 
skilful teacher can bring the student to see in the activities 
of the school, in various matters of local, state, or national 
interest, illustrations of the issues which have always divided 
men, and which will always be discussed. While some students 
are fond of story-telling, and are stirred to effective com- 
munication by an opportunity to describe or narrate their own 
adventures, the normal youngster loses his self-consciousness 
more easily when he addresses an audience upon matters 
which may affect the interests of all his hearers. 

Any attempt to circumscribe closely the subjects suitable 
for a class in Public Speaking would hardly be profitable. 
An ingenious teacher would be constantly finding subjects 
which would only prove the narrowness of any prescribed 
limits. The purpose of this discussion is to point out that 
many problems which are occasionally treated as matters of 
style and delivery are intimately associated with subject- 
matter, that some material is more appropriate for Public 


SUBJECTS FOR STUDENT SPEECHES 145 


Speaking than other, and that the association of Public Speak- 
ing with Oral English is likely to confuse communication 
for the sake of expression with expression for the sake of 
communication. The only attempt here made to define a suit- 
able subject for a student in Public Speaking is the suggestion 
that it should stimulate a desire to communicate persuasively 
with the audience. 


THE USE OF THE DECLAMATION 


WAYLAND MAXFIELD PARRISH 
University of Pittsburgh 


One standard method of acquiring proficiency in Public 
Speaking, a method as old as Puble Speaking itself, is the 
practice of delivering memorized declamations. Its chief 
value, perhaps, is in the opportunity it offers for training 
students in the technique of delivery. To begin the study 
of Public Speaking with drill on declamations is not wise. 
The student might better first acquire confidence in speaking 
—even in speaking badly. He might better have considerable 
practice in speech composition and puble discussion, that he 
may understand that Public Speaking is communication, and 
that he may learn to think out his material and plan his 
speeches in terms of their probable effect on his audience. 
But after he understands thoroughly the nature of Public 
Speaking and begins to feel the need for a better technique in 
its practice he should profit greatly by intelligent drill in 
declamation. 

The first question to be met in the study of declamation 
is the question of standards. What constitutes a satisfactory 
standard in speaking? What is the goal toward which we 
work? When is speaking good, and what makes it good? 

Let us first clear the ground of some troublesome false 
notions. First, speaking is not good when it is ‘‘oratorical.’’ 
There is no place in modern life for the ponderous grandilo- 
quent style that characterized Daniel Webster at his worst. 
The aim of a course in Public Speaking is to train the student 

146 


THE USE OF THE DECLAMATION 147 


for the kind of speaking he may have to do. And he will not, 
in his early years at least, have to deliver funeral orations, or 
save the nation in Fourth of July addresses. He may wish to 
address meetings of some class or club in his own school, and 
he may wish to speak in similar gatherings in the church, the 
Y. M. GC. A., or some other social group. Here as on all other 
occasions throughout his life, he will speak best when he 
speaks as his own sincere, individual self. 

Second, speaking is not good if it is fundamentally ‘‘dra- 
matic’’—that is, impersonative. The manner of Spartacus to 
the gladiators is doubtless appropriate for Spartacus, but 
the modern school boy cannot place himself in the situation of 
Spartacus. Neither is he Antony haranguing a Roman mob. 
Those are essentially dramatic situations and their extravagant 
emotions are out of place. The dramatic manner had better 
be reserved for the stage. 

Third, speaking that is stilted, artificial, or affected or, 
in short, speaking that attracts attention to itself, is bad. 
The aim of speaking is to convey a message, and if the means 
of conveyance gets in the way of the message, that 1s, obtrudes 
itself upon our attention, the means is bad. If the hearers 
say of a speaker, What a lovely voice! or How beautifully 
he gestures! or What perfect poise! it is hkely that the means 
has destroyed the end of his speaking. But if somehow he has 
caught and held their attention upon the content of his selec- 
tion, so that it has not occurred to them to think of his 
technique, then his speaking has been good. The best tech- 
nique is that which is least conspicuous. Let the audience 
feel the impact of the speaker’s ‘‘manner’’ only through such 
ethical qualities as sincerity, earnestness, genuineness. 

Fourth, speaking is not good when it is colorless. Perhaps 
the worst fault of the high school student in Public Speaking 
is not an excess of expression but rather a total lack of it— 
a flat toneless monotony, sans color, sans meaning, sans life, 


148 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


sans everything. It seems to be a universal human tendency 
to let the voice flatten out the expression of any memorized 
set of words. In church our prayers and creeds are chanted 
in a solemn, whining monotone devoid of meaning. Intelli- 
gent voicing of thought might be graphically represented by a 
line of Rocky Mountain-like jaggedness. But too often the 
peaks and valleys give place to a flat and sterile plain, the 
graph is flattened till it represents the shortest distance be- 
tween two points, the two points being the first word spoken 
and the last. 

The standard of good speaking must be sought in the plane 
on which one may most naturally and effectively deliver ideas 
to others. That is the plane of conversation—enlarged con- 
versation, yes, but fundamentally conversation. We are all 
accustomed to uttering conversation as well as hearing it. 
Our organs of speech as well as our organs of hearing are 
adjusted to it. It is the normal and expected method of 
communication, The same cannot be said of oratorical or 
dramatic or elocutionary or declamatory speaking. They are 
essentially unreal and artificial. 

In speaking declamations, then, we shall take conversation 
as the norm of delivery, and we shall say that speaking is 
best which is most like lively or earnest conversation. This 
does not mean the student’s usual faulty conversation, but 
rather his conversation improved and normalized—his con- 
versation at its potential best. It should be more lively than 
conversation commonly is, and also more earnest and intense. 
It should not because of its intensity be lacking in courtesy 
and respectfulness. The student speaker should be, like 
Wendell Phillips, a gentleman conversing—an interesting 
gentleman and one in earnest about what he is saying, but 
always a gentleman. This warning is needed because ado- 
lescents find it difficult to be at the same time earnest and 
polite. They fail to distinguish force from fight, and are 


THE USE OF THE DECLAMATION 149 


often combative, pugnacious, and antagonistic when they 
mean only to be sincere. 

In finding and maintaining for the student this conversa- 
tional genuineness, several factors will be found helpful 
First, the selections used should be suitable in style and con- 
tent for conversational delivery. Second, the student’s atten- 
tion can be kept off premature technique by avoiding the 
mention of mechanics during his training. Third, his mind 
can be kept on the thought of his selection during delivery 
by a thorough analysis of the thought during preparation. 

Let us consider first the suitability of selections. If a 
student is to be encouraged to speak with reality, he should 
have for drill a selection that is for him real, one that he can 
himself speak in a ‘‘real’’ situation, one suited for such an 
audience as he can really have. It should contain such senti- 
ments as he might in his own person utter. If a boy is asked 
to recite the solemn impeachment of Warren Hastings, or 
Ingersoll’s reflections at the tomb of Napoleon, or Patrick 
Henry’s speech in the Virginia Convention, or Webster’s 
supposed speech on John Adams, he is really being asked to 
give a dramatic reading, and he is probably being hindered 
from acquiring a natural, conversational delivery. So also 
Senator Thurston’s plea for force against the Spaniard, and 
many addresses given during the World War are dramatic 
rather than real when used by a modern school boy. Perhaps 
there is a place for such exercises, but if so it is in a class in 
Dramatic Interpretation rather than in a course in practical 
Public Speaking. It need hardly be added that no student 
should be asked to speak sentiments in which he does not 
firmly believe. 

Another important consideration is the style of the gelec- 
tions used. School boys will not gain proficiency in current 
speech by declaiming the grandiloquent periods in vogue a 
century ago. Their practice to be most valuable should be in 


150 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


the best modern vernacular. In general, the style of declama- 
tions used should be the style that one would like the student 
to use in his original address to a student assembly. It should 
avoid alike the ponderous egotism of Webster’s defense of 
Massachusetts, the absurd mock heroics of Grattan’s reply to 
Corry, and the slangy cheapness of the modern ‘‘pep’’ talk. 
Plain, lucid, terse prose, devoid of waste and water, is the 
ideal. Best results are generally secured when selections are 
expository, argumentative, or persuasive rather than descrip- 
tive or narrative. The description of Niagara and the Fall 
of Pompeii are best confined to the course in reading. 
Selections that meet these requirements may be found in 
the published works of such modern speakers and writers 
as Theodore Roosevelt, G. K. Chesterton, Simeon Strunsky, 
Glenn Frank, Wiliam James, H. G. Wells, and others. Among 
the older writers many timely thoughts expressed in effective 
speech style can be found in the works of Emerson, Ruskin, 
Carlyle, George William Curtis, and Wendell Phillips. Good 
selections can also be taken from editorials or leading articles 
in current magazines and newspapers. Care must be taken 
to see that these extracts are speakable, that is, that their 
style has a certain informality combined with directness, force, 
and immediate perspicuity. Care must also be taken to see 
that such extracts have unity and coherence. There is no 
valid objection to changing the wording or arrangement of a 
selection in order to give it these rhetorical qualities. 
Several methods or devices for teaching effective expression 
are in current use. First, there is the method of analyzing 
every word and phrase to be spoken in terms of the elements 
of voice (time, force, quality, and pitch), and employing these 
elements more or less mechanically in expression. Second, 
there is the method of the modern behaviorists, who stress 
bodily action in expression on the theory that both thought 
and feeling are forms of nervous or muscular reactions and 


THE USE OF THE DECLAMATION 151 


so can best be encouraged by stimulating those reactions. 
Third, there is the time-honored method, used all through the 
history of speaking, of having the student imitate the teacher. 
Fourth, there is the method, predicated upon the assumption 
that the voice follows the mind, of requiring a thorough and 
painstaking analysis of the thought content of the selection to 
be spoken, and allowing expression, feeling, and action to 
arise spontaneously from the thought. There is no doubt that 
both good speaking and bad speaking have been, at times, 
the result of each of these methods, and of others not so 
generally in use. But for most teachers the best results will 
probably be obtained by the method of careful thought anal- 
ysis. This is certainly the safest method for untrained 
teachers. It is more rational than the others, makes the 
student’s task of preparation more definite, is least lable 
to lead to the oratorical and elocutionary excesses which have 
at times brought Public Speaking into disrepute, and is prob- 
ably most conducive to intelligent speaking; for it gives the 
student no elaborate or artificial technique to clutter up his 
mind, but on the contrary helps to focus his attention where 
it belongs—on what he is saying. In any case, it ought to 
furnish the indispensable foundation upon which work by 
any other method rests. 

How is this method applied? Professor Winans defines 
the two fundamentals of conversational delivery as a 
‘‘full realization of the content of your words as you utter 
them,’’ and a ‘‘lively sense of communication.’’ It is the first 
of these that is given special emphasis in declamation drill. 
One of the chief faults of delivery, as stated above, is an 
undiscriminating flatness of expression which gives all ideas 
the same color, or rather leaves them all alike colorless. If 
one is keenly alive to the import of what he says, his expres- 
sion will rarely be colorless. Drill in declamation, then, be- 
comes largely an analysis of thought content, with constant 


152 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


insistence that the student keep the thought in the center of 
his consciousness while speaking. 

The following steps in analysis are usually helpful. Have 
the student read the selection silently until its total thought 
is clear in his mind. Have him express the thought of the 
whole and of each paragraph separately in a single compact 
sentence. He must learn, of course, the meaning of all words, 
their connotation, their pronunciation. He should note the 
chief idea in each sentence, and study carefully the relation 
of subordinate elements to it. If a student can be made to 
realize that word groups bear to each other a relationship of 
principal and subordinate, antithesis, contrast, parallelism, 
parenthesis, repetition, amplification, development, and the 
like, he will not give all groups the same expression. He 
will be helped, also, by working out the speaker’s intention 
or attitude toward every part of what he says, determining, 
that is, whether it is concessive, ironical, tolerant, deprecatory, 
exulting, reproving, and soon. Then he must note the general 
mood or feeling of the whole, and attempt to get himself into 
that mood by enriching the author’s thought with examples 
and illustrations from his own reading and experience. In 
general the method should be to help him to think and feel his 
way into the material till he has made it thoroughly his own. 
The value of the whole process, both in private practice and 
in class drill, depends upon the student’s maintaining an 
alert mind. 

The plan of study here briefly outlined is also a plan of 
memorization, that is, the student should memorize thoughts 
rather than words. Memorizing words without thought is 
indisputably bad, and must be by any means prevented. 

Ordinarily, if the thought is thoroughly mastered, and 
attention is kept focused upon it during delivery, the voice 
will respond effectively, and gesture will come naturally as 
it does in conversation. But if these desired results do not 


THE USE OF THE DECLAMATION 153 


follow, then one of the other methods mentioned above may 
be resorted to. They are much more effective and less likely 
to do damage if the content of the selection has first been 
thoroughly assimilated. 

Throughout the period of training, anything that directs 
attention to mere mechanics should be carefully avoided. 
Instead of ‘‘Put more expression into it,’’ tell them ‘‘Get 
more meaning out of it.’’ Instead of telling the student to 
emphasize a certain word, we can ask him to find the most 
important idea, and keep his mind on it. Instead of telling 
him to lower his pitch on a certain phrase, we can tell him, 
if he must be told, that the phrase is parenthetical. Instead 
of telling him to pause after a certain group, we can ask if 
his hearers will not need some time here to digest the thought 
just uttered, or we can ask him what connective words are 
here to be thought of though not spoken, which will insure a 
sufficiently long pause, and in addition improve expression 
by reinforcing the relationship between groups. And as a 
last resort (for surely a student should be encouraged to 
develop his own expression and not merely imitate his teacher ) 
instead of speaking a passage for him, we can give it such 
obviously false emphasis that he will instinctively make it 
right. 

The preparation of a selection by the method here briefly 
outlined is no mean task. It is a challenge to the powers of 
our very best students. And there are considerations entirely 
apart from training in Public Speaking that make such exer- 
cises well worth the time spent on them. The habit of reading 
carefully, accurately, ‘‘suspiciously,’’ the cultivation of vocal 
responsiveness to thought and feeling, the absorption into 
one’s inner consciousness of the sound and feel of good English 
prose are all ends worth seeking. Moreover, declamation 
affords an opportunity for effective drill in articulation and 
pronunciation—a chance to expose and correct the slovenly 


154 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


speech habits that characterize American youth. The effective 
speaking of one worthy selection of moderate length, with 
intelligent appreciation of its meaning, with adequate vocal 
response to its meaning and emotion, and with correct voicing 
of every word and syllable—all with earnest, sincere, con- 
versational directness, is an achievement rare indeed, and an 
ideal worth attention in the shaping of a high school 
eurriculum. 

And such training is perhaps the most effective approach 
to speaking with ‘‘that perfect memorization which has the 
virtues of extemporization without its faults.’’ 


THE CLASS HOUR 


JAMES A. WINANS 
Dartmouth College 


In order to narrow down a subject that might easily in- 
clude anything in the whole field of Speech Training and 
Public Speaking, I shall limit this article to courses in Public 
Speaking, and further to the conduct of such courses with 
a view to prompting genuine speaking. By courses in Public 
Speaking are meant such as have as a major feature ‘‘orig- 
inal’’ speeches, talks, or discussions. If the reader is accus- 
tomed to calling such work Oral English, the term will not 
matter. 

The second limitation noted in the first paragraph does 
not ignore the fact that a teacher may wish to do much other 
work than that here discussed, but is based on the conviction 
that whatever else may need doing, when a student is asked 
to speak to his class the teacher should try to provide for him 
conditions as favorable as a classroom permits for genuine 
communication. Indeed, unless the pupil is led to speak in a 
genuine way, his drill in the narrower technique may do him 
more harm than good. 

Now the most deadly thing about a class audience is just 
that it is a class, looking upon the meeting as simply an- 
other hour to be gone through and upon the speeches as 
merely so many more class exercises. The teacher should do 
all in his power to overcome this attitude and to develop in 
the class the feeling that the speakers are really to deal with 
their hearers as an audience—not merely to satisfy a teacher 

155 


156 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


viewed as a passionless soul symbolized by a blue pencil, the 
sort of creature one has been writing compositions for, whose 
god is correctness and whom one never dreamed of interest- 
ing, informing, or persuading, but only ‘‘getting by.’’ If you 
like the word motivation it might be fitted in hereabouts. 

The subject of the class hour cannot be treated justly 
without touching at least briefly upon certain matters which 
precede the work in class. In the first place, the pupil should 
be encouraged to find something worth saying; for without 
the confidence that his matter is worth while he is not likely 
to try hard to express himself, and therefore will not greatly 
develop his powers of expression. Incidentally, the use of 
selections or declamations finds one of its justifications in the 
feeling they give the young speaker, that they are worthy of 
expression and that their expression demands all his powers. 

The preceding paragraph does not mean that the young 
speaker must attempt great issues such as are beyond his 
grasp and his range of genuine interests. Rather he should 
be encouraged to begin with themes well within his range of 
experience, and to make speeches that are not far removed 
from conversation. Such talks may be well worth listening 
to; provided the speakers are held up to a higher standard of 
information, logic, and construction than that which prevails 
in ordinary table and corridor talk. If the merely read-up 
topic has any place, it surely is not while the class is ‘‘ getting 
its sea legs.’? Reading is usually much in order, as are 
all means of getting at the ideas and facts belonging to one’s 
topic; but the topic itself should not be hard to associate with 
the interests of speaker and hearer, lest we have merely per- 
functory speaking, or perhaps those horrible imitations of 
Webster at his worst, formerly known as ‘‘orations.’’ At 
least one hopes the ‘‘formerly’’ is apt. 

This limitation of subjects is not so severe as might at first 
appear, and does not limit us to school, or even to local 


THE CLASS HOUR 157 


topics. Such a subject as Philippine independence or the 
World Court would be barred for a time, but just because 
the students are people living in society, the range is still 
large. Many moral questions, such as gambling, may have 
a real ‘‘kick’’ in them and awaken lively discussion; various 
phases of racial questions may come close home; and even 
the Child Labor Amendment may derive a good deal of first- 
hand interest from local conditions. The point is to avoid 
stuff which though predigested remains unassimilated, and 
does not make for a genuine speaker-audience relationship. 

Further, in leading the pupil to look on his speech as 
something more than an exercise, the teacher should en- 
courage him to consider his hearers in the choice of his sub- 
jects, and to think always of his facts, explanations, and 
arguments with reference to his hearers, and to adapt his 
matter always to the ends of being clear, convincing, and in- 
teresting to them. He should be early impressed with the 
truth that if he does not hold attention he can accomplish 
nothing; and he should be encouraged to find the apt phrase, 
the pat illustration, and the connections between existing 
interests and the interests to be awakened or increased. 

It is surprising how little given to adaptation of material 
to audience and to employing any ingenuity in finding ways 
of interesting and impressing even older students are. True, 
they are at a self-centered age; but there is more than that 
to be noted. From early school days up they have been 
trained to acquire knowledge and retail it to a teacher who 
knows it better than they and catches the pupil’s meaning 
before it is half expressed. As they grow older they read 
books, cull out important statements, condense by omitting 
the most interesting and convincing matter, the concrete data, 
put the conclusions into a report to hand to a teacher whose 
chief concern is that the assigned books shall be read. This 
is extremely poor training for interesting and persuading 


158 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


those who know less of a subject and care less for it than the 
speaker. 

To change this typical attitude toward class talking is a 
part of the teacher’s task, by work within and without the 
classroom. And in doing this the teacher must look to his 
own attitude. He must not be satisfied with mere show of 
application and mere correctness, and especially must avoid 
emphasis on criticism. If speaker and class are to look upon 
speeches as human communication, the teacher must first ‘‘get 
right,’’ if not right already. 

He may well ask himself, Am I thinking too much of 
technique in the speaking hour? We may be sure the class 
will accept the teacher’s emphasis as indicating what is im- 
portant—that is, all but the keener members whose common 
sense will revolt at making the lesser matters of the law more 
important than having something to say and putting it across. 
Search your soul, O Teacher-Reader! Do you expect and 
demand speeches or merely mechanical excellence? 

Are you content with mere soliloquies, words spoken in the 
presence of the class? Or with essays nicely read or re- 
cited? A speech is not simply an essay standing up on its 
hind legs. Just what the difference is is too difficult to 
attempt here, if indeed it can be stated; but we all know many 
essays do not have speaking quality and many speeches do 
not read well. The teacher should be trained to keenness in 
regard to this difference. It is unwise to associate essays and 
speeches, even by referring to speaking as oral composition. 

Certainly one of the most important elements in speech- 
making is the note of communication in both language and 
delivery. For this there is no better term than conversational 
quality—not conversational style or manner, or mode, with 
which it has been confused, but quality. The teacher must be 
sensitive to this note, this ‘‘come-hither’’ in the voice. His 
ears must be quick to tell him whether the speaker’s voice 


THE CLASS HOUR Oho 


and words are saying, ‘‘I am performing before you,”’ or ‘‘I 
am thinking aloud in your presenee,”’ or ‘‘I am talking with 
you.’’ Good speech, good bearing, good diction, good con- 
struction, good matter are all sources of satisfaction; but we 
must not let satisfaction at these dull our demand for the 
erand element. 

The teacher whose training has been largely in elocution, 
even in the best sense of that abused word, has to beware of 
stressing too much the technique of speech and action. Re- 
member always we are dealing with the speech-making hour. 
We will agree that there is much else to be done, even if we 
do not agree as to what. Let the writer say in passing that 
he does not agree with those who advocate the largest possible 
number of speeches, or the ‘‘up on their feet every time they 
come to class’? method. That makes for careless work, with- 
out preparation, and encourages the perfunctory attitude. 
At any rate there is other important business; only let it be 
kept out of the speaking hour, though a few brisk “‘setting- 
up’’ exercises, without any stress on technique, may tone 
up both speakers and hearers and help them to shed the 
classroom attitude hanging over from the preceding period. 

If the teacher’s primary interest is in English he may think 
unduly of grammar, construction, and, in general, the tech- 
nique of composition. The English teacher seems to be least 
likely to make the distinction between essays and speeches ; 
and sometimes adds to confusion by treating speaking as only 
a preparation for the serious business of writing. It 1s not 
unknown, too, for English teachers to treat the speaking as 
merely a way to escape the labor of reading compositions. 
One cannot blame them for wishing to escape some of that 
drudgery, but the attitude involved is not likely to lead to 
good speaking. 

If the teacher’s primary interest is in economics, history, or 
other social science, then it is possible that he will be too 


160 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


finnicky about even such good things as facts, theories, and 
logic, insisting upon mere correctness in these respects, and 
forgetting the important business of communication. But it 
is to be noted that criticism directed to subject-matter is less 
harmful in its effects and more likely to lead the class to the 
real business of speaking, than is criticism directed to the 
smaller technique of speaking. Indeed, a reasonable amount 
of questioning and objecting to what the speaker says, es- 
pecially if this can be drawn out of the class, tends to 
impress on the speaker what his business is, to make him 
realize that he is not speaking impersonally before a class, 
but that its members are taking note of what he says and 
not merely of how he says it, or ignoring him altogether. It 
is fair to say, however, before leaving this heading, that the 
teacher who knows little of the technique of speaking is often 
the one to emphasize unduly the little he does know or thinks 
he knows. But this does not at all mean putting the un- 
trained teacher above the teacher of special training. 

Some would seek to break up the traditional classroom 
attitude by putting the group into imaginary situations, as 
a meeting of a board of directors or a convention. Theoreti- 
cally one could hardly expect genuineness to be the fruit of 
artificiality. Make-believe does not seem of much use with 
college students, but perhaps the younger the pupil the 
better the imaginary situation works. And some teachers 
are much more successful with this sort of thing than others. 
Certainly whenever the pretense results in a smirking con- 
sciousness that all the time we are ‘‘just pretending,’’ it is 
not good. In other words, one should test the value of the 
device in a given case by whether or not it produces a fair 
degree of dramatic reality. 

The conduct of criticism seems of first-class importance. 
Criticism may easily do more harm than good. Criticism 
there must be, but it is not of first importance, as we often 


THE CLASS HOUR 161 


make it. The experienced teacher is less likely than the 
inexperienced to indulge in much criticism. Too much 
criticism hardens the victim; but more important, it makes 
speaker and hearer too self-conscious. 

Consider some of these class hours. Several members of 
the class are told off to catch the speaker at his errors— 
Johnny as critic of posture and gesture, Susie of grammar, 
Willie of diction, Jennie of enunciation, Mabel of pronuncia- 
tion, and so on till, although no one is assigned to listen to 
what the speaker has to say, a goodly portion of the class is 
seated with conscious dignity of office, pencils drawn and 
pads ready, eying the poor victim until he feels that he is 
there, not to command their attention to his thought, but as 
an object of dissection. If any speaker, old or young, can 
triumph over such a situation, we may eredit him with a 
strong nature. 

Do not feature criticism. As a rule, it seems best not to 
have criticism after each speech, although there are obvious 
advantages. The criticism on the first speaker makes a more 
critical audience, and a more nervous second speaker. It is 
far better to say something to make your class-audience await 
the next speaker’s ideas with interest. When all the speeches 
of the day have been made, criticisms will do less harm. It is 
usually best to limit criticisms before the class to those 
matters which are of general interest and value, and to keep 
most of what you have to say to a given speaker for his 
private ear. What he has to say may often make clearer his 
trouble and enable you to make a better suggestion. For ex- 
ample, what seems like careless bluffing, meriting severe con- 
demnation, may prove to be only a pose to cover extreme 
shyness. Often the speaker will be more severe on himself 
than you could wisely be, and you discover that encourage- 
ment is in order rather than adverse criticism. Often what 
you say offhand in class will be but a guess, or due to the fact 


162 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


that you are running a certain hobby this week. In a talk 
with the boy you are far less likely to be perfunctory. 

One must recognize that not all teachers have time for 
private conferences; but many have a strongly’ held con- 
viction that a teacher of Public Speaking who cannot find a 
good bit of time for conferences is overworked. 

But there is criticism and criticism. It would seem, for 
some reason, less unfortunate in its effect to tell a pupil in 
public that his logic is muddy than that his enunciation is 
thick. It is to be admitted, too, that publicity may be needed 
at times to give praise or blame effect. One recognizes, also, 
that a veteran class can stand more than a group of be- 
ginners who have not yet come to a realization of what speak- 
ing really means. There is a stage also when criticism by 
members of the class is good, though the writer would never 
wish to have more than one or two in the critic’s part at one 
time. The writer’s own practice is to let each speaker, in the 
latter part of the year, appoint his own eritic. There is no 
marked tendency to pick those who will give easy praise; 
rather the tendency is to choose those who prove the keenest 
critics. These critics usually speak with frankness, and often 
call to mind points which have been overlooked by the 
teacher. But the writer would not wish to set this method 
going until the class has made good progress and realizes 
the nature of the business before the house. At best class 
critics are likely to deal with the picayune rather than with 
the principle or method the teacher wishes to stress at the 
time. 

At any rate, whatever concessions are to be made, do not 
feature criticism. 

Better than technical criticism, much of the time, is class 
discussion of what the speaker has said. The question which 
reveals the speaker’s lack of information or pierces his logie, 
the statement of overlooked considerations, the indorsement 


THE CLASS HOUR 163 


or illustration of points made, all these tend to create a 
normal situation and help the speaker to think of his speech, 
not as an exercise, but as an actual dealing with the minds 
of his hearers. The teacher who has the knack of drawing 
from his class a lively discussion and can keep discussion 
on the main line, should have little difficulty in developing 
genuine speakers. 


THE COURSE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 


CLARENCE D. THORPE 
University of Oregon 


First CONSIDERATIONS 


The teacher of Public Speaking should realize, first of all, 
that his problem is primarily one in rhetoric. By rhetoric, 
I mean the science and art of conveying meaning through 
words. Leaving out of account poetry, with which we are 
not concerned here, the only essential difference between 
speaking and writing is that, in the one case, this meaning 
is conveyed directly through word of mouth; in the other, 
through the medium of the written page. Up to a certain 
point, the work of both the instructor in speaking and the 
instructor in writing is fundamentally the same: each is 
training students to think, to gather materials for thought 
and judgments, to organize and express these materials in 
the most suitable and effective manner possible. The close 
relationship between the problems of speaking and writing 
needs to be emphasized, just as the differences need to be 
more closely analyzed. Among the ancients, rhetoric had to 
do almost exclusively with oratory. Nowadays the term has 
come to be quite erroneously applied only to writing. It 
would seem sensible to avoid these extremes and restore the 
rhetoric of speaking to something of its former honorable 
position in our schools. 

There is little that can be accomplished in teaching ele- 
mentary composition through writing that cannot be done 

164 


THE COURSE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 165 


equally well, or even better, through the method of speaking. 
We say ‘‘even better,’’ for the reason that the instructor in 
speaking has certain peculiar advantages over the instructor 
in writing. When a student stands before a class and gives 
his speech orally, the excellences of his composition are more 
apparent, and the faults appear more obvious and glaring, 
both to himself and to his hearers, than if the piece were 
only written and handed over to be corrected. Teachers of 
long experience in both public speaking and written composi- 
tion agree without hesitation that, in general, outlining and 
a feeling for organization and plan can be taught better and 
more expeditiously in a course in speaking than in a class in 
written composition; that a desire for vocabulary-building 
and a sense for varied and appropriate diction can be more 
effectively developed in the speaking class; and that bad 
habits in English can be more swiftly eradicated and right 
ones more surely implanted here than in the courses in 
writing. 

All this can be done; but only when the speaking course, 
developed according to sound principles of hard work and 
right method, is made systematic, dignified, and fine. Some- 
times, unfortunately, the teachers of Speech may have to 
prove that public speaking is worthy of an equal place among 
the other accredited subjects in our school curricula. To do 
this, they must make their work purposive, substantial, re- 
sultful. General success will come only when teachers adopt 
the newer, sterner ideals toward the subject of oral English 
now advocated, for the realization of which thoroughly tested 
techniques have been perfected, and useful precedents estab- 
lished. 

Public Speaking is one of the most difficult of all subjects 
to teach successfully. The teacher who would succeed must 
be on eternal guard against certain temptations he is likely 
to face. He must, for instance, set himself like flint against 


166 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


the insidious tendency to permit his class hours to descend 
into glorified talk-fests, where every one expansively says 
his say on a subject of which he knows nothing, where, con- 
sequently, the time is frittered away in pointless, unfruitful 
discussion. He must likewise learn to discount vacuous, 
effortless loquacity. Fluency in speech is indeed to be en- 
couraged, but not empty rattle-pated facility ; talk that begins 
and ends in mere glibness is the saddest substitute in the 
world for acceptable speaking based on industrious worth. 
Furthermore, the successful teacher will ever be on the alert 
against the temptation to waste class time on non-essentials: 
he will be sure not to make his course merely elocutionary by 
subordinating subject-matter to manner of presentation; he 
will not spend too much time on the details of theory; and 
he will carefully avoid the pleasant diversion of entertaining 
the class on his own account—some teachers are talented and 
dearly love to display their wares. 


WHat To Do 


Bearing in mind that right thinking is the only safeguard 
of successful speaking, that knowledge, sincerity, and honest 
effort are necessities for every good speech, that the problem 
of the teacher of Speech is largely one of oral composition 
and not of elocution—what shall be the procedure in -con- 
ducting a class in original speaking ? 

After providing a good textbook, perhaps the best thing 
to do next is to begin a round of speeches. It is well for 
students to know from the first that they are in a class in real 
public speaking. The assignment may be made the first day, 
the students being asked to be prepared, say, the fourth 
meeting of the class. This first speech should be short, about 
three minutes long, and the subject simple. A very good type 
of topic is something like What I Expect to Get Out of Public 
Speaking. This permits of easy but effective organization, 


THE COURSE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 167 


and every student is sure to have something to say. The 
student should be permitted to choose from a number of pos- 
sible subjects, however. He may be more interested in some- 
thing like this: Why I Like (or Dislike) President Coolidge, 
Our Athletic Situation, Let’s Subscribe for the **Trum- 
pet,’’? Things I Like to Read, My Kind of Teacher, or Why 
Automobiles Kill. A variety of similar topics will present 
themselves to every ingenious individual teacher. In the days 
intervening before these first speeches, the instructor will 
introduce his students to the text selected and will proceed 
to drill them in the rudiments of speech-building. He will 
emphasize the importance of thorough preparation, even for 
so slight a speech. Insisting on coherent logical organization 
and clear-cut expression, he will ask every student to prepare 
and hand in an outline of his work. He will make clear that 
a good speech is just ‘‘strong, earnest talk,’’ a matter of com- 
municating thought by word of mouth, thus pointing the way 
to a natural, effective delivery. And likewise with other 
essentials, so that on the first speaking day every one knows 
pretty well what to work for and what to look for in his 
fellow student’s speech. 


Getrting MATERIALS 


From now on the work should be varied but systematic 
and all pointed to a definite end. Theory should not precede 
but should go hand in hand with practice. Students should be 
taught how to go about the preparation of longer speeches. 
They must first be instructed in ways of gathering materials. 
Matters of local interest, permitting of first-hand contacts 
and investigation; political subjects involving town and State 
issues, and, to a limited extent, national and international 
affairs; plays, books, authors, topics of many sorts involving 
reading and study—all, under certain conditions, may become 
proper materials for speaking work. 


168 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Good public speaking flourishes best in an atmosphere of 
living thought. An important phase of the teacher’s work 
therefore is to keep a current of fresh ideas circulating in 
his class. There are many ways in which he can do this. 
First, he must live in an atmosphere of fresh ideas himself. 
He must read, must converse, must think, must himself write 
and speak. It takes fire to draw fire. And nothing better in- 
spires students to mental activity than contact with a teacher 
whose mind is aglow with the warmth of vital ideas, whose 
enthusiasm for study and thought is so great as to be inevi- 
tably contagious. Such a teacher will bring to his class 
interesting items of information gathered from his daily 
reading; and he will often present to his students thought- 
provoking bits from books, essays, the morning’s editorial ; 
he will be ready with stimulating comment on important 
events of local, national, or world concern. The good teacher 
of original speaking is an opportunist: he will take advantage 
of the nearest object of popular attention to direct his stu- 
dents into vital discussion; he will seize every possible occa- 
sion, in other words, to arouse the intellectual curiosity of 
those under him and seek to focus it to a definite purpose. 
If a Coué is arousing a storm of comment he will find there 
meat for a live assignment; lkewise, he will capitalize the 
last big movie, the new repertory theater, the most talked-of 
book of the day, the latest thing in ocean navigation, the 
current presidential campaign. He will teach his students to 
think deeply of these things and to form opinions of their 
own upon them. He will also teach them how to use a 
library,’ how to prepare notes and abstracts, how to analyze 


* As a supplement to the excellent material on this subject to be found 
in texts on Public Speaking attention should be called to the chapters 
on ‘‘Reading’’ and on ‘‘The Use of the Library’’ in Slater’s Revised 
Freshman Rhetoric. Better and more pointed suggestions are not to be 
found anywhere. 


THE COURSE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 169 


a given subject, in short, how to utilize material from reading, 
observation, conversation, and every other possible source. 


SPEECH BUILDING 


Then will follow drill in the organization and construction 
of speech materials into a finished composition. It is a safe 
rule to follow never to accept a speech that is not accom- 
panied or preceded by a written plan or outlne—many suc- 
cessful teachers require that an advance plan be submitted 
for criticism. Part of the speeches should be written out in 
full; and in a half year course, at least two short speeches 
should be written and memorized before delivery. A sense 
for organization and for effective expression may be culti- 
vated by requiring the members of the class to outline 
speeches as they are made, or to write careful criticisms of 
them from notes taken in class; after the term is well along 
it is sometimes helpful to turn criticism of class speeches 
over to the students themselves. Another well-tested method 
is the study of examples. Since there is no better way to 
teach effective plan, and force and fitness of expression than 
through illustration, several good model speeches should be 
studied. There are now available two or three unusually 
fine books of selections suitable for use in this work. In his 
A Companion to the Higher English Grammar, written in 
1874, Bain describes a device in teaching English which 
seems applicable here: ‘‘. . . having selected an exemplary 
passage, first to assign its peculiar excellence and its de- 
ficiency, and next to point out what things contribute to the 
one, what to the other, and what are indifferent to both. The 
pupils are thus accustomed to weigh every expression that 
comes before them, and this I take to be the beginning of the 
art of composition.’’ This definite and pointed analysis may 
quite as fitly be taken as the beginning of the art of speaking. 
It is well to have one or two short model speeches memorized 


170 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


and delivered. In this, too, selection need not be limited to 
recognized platform speeches. Extracts from standard 
essays, from books, or from magazine articles may prove to 
be excellent material for this work, and brief editorials from 
such periodicals as The Outlook and Collier’s are often 
admirably adapted for oral presentation. 

This sort of drill affords opportunity for a study not only 
of the larger units of structure, but of the details of sentence 
building and diction. ‘Students in speaking should be led 
to develop a fine ear for well-cadenced, euphonious, correct 
English. Memorizing good speeches is a great aid in this. 
Indeed, just here is one of the points where the opportunity 
of the oral English teacher excels that of the instructor in 
written work, and he should make the best use of it. By 
insisting upon the close study of language involved in the 
analysis and memorization of models, he can do much to lead 
his pupil to an appreciation of English style. 


GENERAL TYPE OF ORIGINAL WORK 


For a course in original speaking, expository and argumen- 
tative exercises seem most profitable and feasible; though 
training in narrative should also have a place. Argumenta- 
tion has already won an assured position in our courses. But 
the importance of training students in clear and interesting 
explanation has been often overlooked by teachers of oral 
English. The truth is, no type of work is more profitable, 
and none seems to yield more productive results. Undoubt- 
edly, too, our American youth needs to be taught the art of 
clear unbiased presentation of truth without the coloring that 
inevitably follows the taking of sides in debate. It is hardly 
necessary to mention here the various possible types of public 
address that fall under the head of exposition and argumen- 
tation. The wise teacher will not limit himself to any one 
kind of speech but will acquaint his pupils, in practice as 


THE COURSE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 171 


well as in theory, with as many types of both formal and 
informal public address as is feasible. Narrative should be 
taught not only as an accessory and aid to exposition and 
argument, but as a type of speaking in itself worth culti- 
vating. Material for narrative speeches is abundant. Per- 
sonal incident or anecdote, biographical sketches, and story 
summaries are all admirably adapted for classroom work. 
In all narrative exercises, the teacher will emphasize the 
cultivation of a lively, engaging, interesting manner ; but it is 
very much more important that stress be laid on the selee- 
tion of salient details and the skilful arrangement of these 
details in effective climactic order. 


Tue Cuassroom MretrHop—GEnNERAL 


The method of open discussion and the ‘‘open forum’’ 
should be alternated with that of the more formal plan of 
set speeches. In general it will be found that the formal 
method is better fitted for expository exercises, but that the 
‘‘open forum’’ is particularly suited to work in argumenta- 
tion. The open discussion is probably most productive in 
working up interest in subjects in preparation for later 
speeches or ‘‘open forum’’ meetings. In ‘‘open forum’’ work 
those who speak should be prepared as carefully in advance 
as in set debates, though, occasionally, a very live impromptu 
discussion may be profitably staged under the provocation 
of some stimulating speech. Whatever method is employed, 
definite programs should be made out, so that every student 
may be held to scheduled times to speak. 


Tue Cuassroom MretrHop—SPECIAL DEVICES 


The progressive teacher of speaking will make use of every 
legitimate device to improve the quality of his class work, 
and he will encourage his students to employ every possible 
means to produce successful speeches. He may, for example, 


172 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


make use of the natural tendency to emulation and rivalry. 
It is surprising what good results may be had from an occa- 
sional class speaking contest. It seems to matter little whether 
the prize offered be a pie or a five-dollar bill, the competition 
is equally keen. Concrete situations appeal to students and 
seem often to add just the touch necessary to bring out their 
best. The sales interview actually staged puts both the 
salesman and the prospective customer on their mettle, and 
brings out a real combat of wits, where the ordinary sales 
talk might be a very drab affair indeed. Likewise, a regularly 
organized meeting, representing the town council, the library 
board, or a political caucus in session, will afford just the 
right setting for the debate of some lively local issue. In 
expository speeches, a chalk diagram or a series of diagrams 
will often prove admirable aids to clearness and interest. 
One of the best expository talks I have ever heard was just 
such an illustrated explanation of the structure of the Egyp- 
tian pyramids. Another example is the famous Waterloo 
‘¢A.’’ More simple subjects for this type of thing are usually 
better, however. Many of the so-called commonplace things 
of everyday experience—a telephone receiver, a phonograph 
diaphragm, an electric switch, a mine shaft, any one of a 
hundred other objects—will serve well enough. Sometimes 
the actual object that is being explained may be brought to 
the platform and displayed in illustration. Of course the 
important thing is that all devices employed shall be natural 
aids to clearer, more effective speaking. 


DELIVERY 


So far nothing specific has been said about delivery. And 
perhaps comparatively little need be said here on this sub- 
ject. Not that it is of less importance, but that probably the 
average teacher of public speaking is thoroughly qualified to 
handle the problem of the delivery of original speeches. 


THE COURSE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 173 


Warning has already been given against the development of 
the elocutionary type of delivery, but possibly a word of 
eaution need be spoken against misconception in regard to 
natural ‘‘conversational’’ speaking. The general idea is right, 
but it should be borne in mind that not ‘‘conversational man- 
ner’’ is meant, but ‘‘conversational quality’’—lively, instinct 
with the thought, eye-to-eye, animated and searching of voice 
—a quality inherent in the most active natural communicative 
speech of the individual at his best. Good speaking is strong, 
earnest, perhaps always a bit emotionalized, talk. As such it 
must in certain respects be elevated above the ordinary 
dialogue pitch. When this fact is forgotten, lifeless, indiffer- 
ent monotone is too likely to replace the vitality and vibrancy 
that is the mark of the effective speaker. To be sure, delivery 
must be in harmony with the meaning to be expressed. But 
there can scarcely be any meaning worth expressing in public 
that should not be conveyed in a forceful, dynamic, dignified 
manner, and truly any attempt to teach the rhetoric of speak- 
ing in its best sense will fail if this important consideration 
of an appropriate manner of oral communication of thought 
be misunderstood. 


THE NEW SPIRIT IN DEBATING 


PHILIP M. HICKS 
Swarthmore College 


Debating, as usually organized in American schools and 
colleges, is a voluntary student activity dealing with highly 
educational values. The chief problem in connection with its 
administration is how to retain the greatest possible number 
of the benefits and advantages to be derived by students 
from each of the aspects of debate, too often seemingly ir- 
reconcilable. The opportunity offered is a challenging one. 
The conventional distaste of youth for required work is a quite 
natural reaction to an enforced substitution of something that 
ought to be done for something that youth wants to do. 
Education has striven too long to fight the ‘‘pleasure prin- 
ciple’’ instead of utilizing it. In recognizing the necessity 
of discipline as a part of the business of preparation for life 
we have been too prone to overlook the fact that discipline 
can be gained as well in the pursuit of a desired as of a re- 
quired end. When students engage willingly in an activity 
which, like debate, requires application, thought, and ex- 
pression, it is possible to emphasize these values without 
seeming to do so, with the resulting advantage that the lesson 
learned will seem self-taught. When debating is so or- 
ganized that students engage in it from other reasons than 
that of enjoyment, it becomes, in effect, no more than a class 
in Argumentation and had better be so conducted. When 
it is so organized that educational values are sacrificed to the 
mere winning of decisions, it forfeits its claim to academic 

174 


THE NEW SPIRIT IN DEBATING 175 


support. It should be possible to preserve both the sport and 
the educational values without compromising either. 

A eloser scrutiny of the nature of these two values may, 
perhaps, prevent certain misconceptions to which may be 
ascribed many of the ills that afflict debating. The first 
among these errors is the assumption that the sport element 
in debate is solely dependent upon the winning of a contest 
from a rival team. This is a not unnatural reflection of the 
overemphasis placed upon the importance of victory in ath- 
letic contests. Emphasis on the necessity of winning a 
technical victory, based upon the decision of a board of 
supposed experts in technique, has led to a rigidity of rules 
and procedure that, in debate as elsewhere, has eliminated 
most of the natural enjoyment of playing the game. 

If the natural joy in discussion is to be preserved in de- 
bating, the freedom and naturalness which make discussion 
a pleasure must be, as far as possible, maintained. Such re- 
strictions as are imposed should be merely those demanded 
by the enlargement of the occasion: which demands the 
persuasion of an audience, rather than of two or three friends. 
If debate is to continue a sport it must remain a free expres- 
sion of opinion and of the grounds to that opinion. Too 
often it becomes a mere catalogue of reasons for opinion upon 
a subject that does not in any real sense enter into the con- 
sciousness of the speaker. 

Any text upon Argumentation will reveal, in its discussion 
of debatable questions, how formal debating has narrowed 
the field of discussion, how arbitrary restraints imposed by 
the form of the debate have eliminated questions in which the 
students should have the keenest interest. The bickerings of 
coaches over the wording of the question, the efforts of teams 
to shift the burden of proof, the horror of inconsistencies 
between the arguments of different members of the same team 
—these familiar incidents of formal debate are all evidences 


176 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


of the strangling effects of a technique resulting from em- 
phasis upon the judges’ decision. Such debating is as formal 
as a fencing match, as artificial, and as artistic if skilfully 
done. But too often it resembles a spectacle of children 
tilting with weapons too long and too heavy for them before 
an audience unfamiliar with the rules of the game. The 
element of sport that should be preserved in debating is sport 
for sport’s sake, discussion for the sake of expressing one’s 
convictions upon a subject of immediate concern, not for the 
glory that comes from being a member of a school team. 
The sport of debating should find its greatest satisfaction not 
in the result but in the playing of the game. 

A second misconception is based upon the assumption that 
the main educational value is found in the content of the 
debate. The thorough investigation of an important public 
problem acquires value with the assimilation, not the mere 
collection, of the materials of proof. The claims of school 
boys to have proved conclusively the right or wrong of ques- 
tions that vex governments and society are a bit absurd and 
a bit pitiful. It is a parrot-like performance at best, lacking 
spontaneity and sincerity, not from any fault of the speakers, 
but from the folly of a system that implies interest, knowl- 
edge, and conviction in regard to questions outside the ex- 
perience and grasp of high school students. The conception 
that the young debater gets of such a question as the nation- 
alization of public utilities is at best imitative and superficial, 
and must soon be forgotten. 

Not knowledge but thought is the end of education. Edu- 
cational values lie not so much in knowledge of subjects in 
themselves as in the processes of investigation, judgment, 
and expression by which the debater strives to win an au- 
dience to his opinion. This end can only be attained when 
the student is working with material which is of genuine in- 
terest both to himself and to his audience. The discussion 


THE NEW SPIRIT IN DEBATING 177 


of such a question, if engaged in voluntarily, enlsts the 
earnestness and enthusiasm of the student in an effort to 
learn and weigh the facts, to balance evidence, and to make 
the results of his own thought clear and interesting to others. 
These are truly educational values. 

So much for theory. Debating of this sort cannot be 
instituted over night. Even to approximate it constitutes a 
real problem, and merely a partial attainment will smooth 
the way for the aspiring speaker when he comes to college. 
Teachers of Speech and Debate in colleges too often find that 
the better a student’s forensic record in preparatory school 
is, the more difficult it is to work with him. This is not due 
solely to cerebral enlargement caused by overemphasis on 
victory in school contests, but in part to the fact that he must 
unlearn many of the tricks and mannerisms that result from 
a training that relies on vocal emphasis instead of on sin- 
cerity and understanding. What college teachers desire in 
candidates for debate is, first of all, a genuine liking for 
discussion, second, a disposition to put thinking before speak- 
ing, and, finally, the ability to speak correctly, easily, and 
naturally. Knowledge of the technique of the various forms 
of speaking may very well come later and will come quickly 
with such a foundation to build upon. 

Certain definite things may be done to facilitate the attain- 
ment of these objectives. Questions may be chosen from the 
field covered by the interests and comprehension of the 
student body. Such questions may concern the policies of 
school activities, athletics, social affairs, the curriculum, stu- 
dent organizations, and others suggested by local conditions. 
There is nothing new in this idea. It is an adaptation of the 
town-meeting method of gathering sentiment, and in some 
instances it might be feasible to let a definite action be de- 
termined by the decision arrived at in the discussion. In 
brief, anything that will add an element of reality to de- 


178 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


bating may be tried. Nor is the field limited to scholastic 
problems. Many neighborhood questions involve the interests 
of the school group, and a few national issues of outstanding 
importance, such as elections, may engage the interest of 
youth sufficiently to admit of sincere, and for those concerned, 
profitable discussion. 

It will be evident that these ideals of debating contem- 
plate the participation of the audience in a more active role 
than that of restive listeners. The vote of the audience 
should always be uppermost in the speaker’s mind. A desire 
to persuade them is the only ethical excuse for his taking 
their time. His material and language therefore must be 
adapted to their understanding rather than to that of a board 
of judges. When judges are used, they should be instructed 
to take into account the success of the speaker with his 
audience as a part of the basis of judgment. A permanent 
interest in debating must be based upon a genuine enjoyment 
of it by the student body. This can hardly be developed 
unless those who must always constitute the audience can be 
made to feel that they are a part of the occasion, not merely 
a partisan claque. There is no more depressing experience 
for those interested in debate than to witness the giggling, 
but by no means blameable, inattention of an audience ob- 
tained by compulsion while vague phrases concerning ‘‘non- 
justiciable questions’’ and ‘‘national honor’’ crackle over 
their heads, and then to hear the prompt and relieved burst 
of applause that greets the speaker’s close. The proper 
objective of debating is the winning of the interest of the 
audience, and wherever possible the decision of the contest 
should turn upon the vote of the audience upon the merits of 
the question. 

The audience may also be allowed a voice as well as a vote. 
It is sensible to allow individuals the privilege of speaking 
upon a question concerning which they are to record their 


THE NEW SPIRIT IN DEBATING 179 


votes. The encouragement of the open forum feature, of 
allowing short speeches or questions from the floor, can do 
much toward vitalizing the debate and making it a meeting 
rather than an exhibition. Such features cannot be obtained 
without effort at the start. Shyness and inexperience nat- 
urally prevent many from joining in a public discussion 
before the entire school. The method may be introduced first 
in small groups, in class or squad practice, or, if necessary, 
by planting speakers in the audience until the idea has become 
familiar. It will be facilitated, too, if the time allotted to the 
assigned speakers is not so long that the audience comes to 
the open forum period exhausted. 

Much has been said that may seem to imply that a radical 
change in the form of debating is desired. It would be wiser 
to say that a radical change in the spirit of debating is 
desirable, and that to obtain it, such changes as seem neces- 
sary under local conditions should be made. No mere change 
from one type of debate to another will accomplish much so 
long as the form remains the matter of greatest emphasis. 

For the attainment of the aims discussed in this paper, it 
would seem that some adaptation of the open forum method 
would offer the greatest possibilities of success. The general 
features of this type are: one round of speeches from the 
platform, free discussion from the floor, the return of the 
programmed speakers only upon being questioned, and a 
decision upon the merits of the question, not of the de- 
bating, by vote of the house. These methods present no 
difficulty in intramural debates. In interscholastic contests 
it would be, perhaps, too much to expect an impartial vote 
on the merits of the case from a home audience well drilled 
in school loyalty. It may be obtained on a neutral floor or 
by splitting the teams and placing representatives of each 
school on both sides of the question. If it is desired to 
secure a vote upon the merits of the debate as well as the 


180 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


merits of the question, a vote may be taken from the audience 
at the outset of the discussion which, upon comparison with 
that taken at the end, will reveal the drift of opinion from 
one side to the other, or from neutral to either. This provides 
a test of the effectiveness of the speakers of more interest 
than the vote of a board of judges. 

Where the retention of the formal type of debating is 
considered preferable, it is still possible to utilize various 
features of the open forum method in ways that will suggest 
themselves. Three, or more, sided debates will also lend 
variety to the season, and are especially useful in the con- 
sideration of questions involving a choice among several al- 
ternatives. That form will be best in each school that seems 
most likely to secure the maximum amount of the essential 
sport and educational values to be obtained from debating. 

In no respect would the shifting of emphasis in debate have 
a more wholesome influence than in regard to the matter of 
coaching. When the real or fancied obligation of the coach 
to win decisions at all costs is removed, the objectionable 
practices of coaching will disappear. The function of a 
coach of debate conducted as an activity is essentially that 
of the teacher of a class in informal discussion. He should 
make such eriticisms of the speakers as will minister to their 
improvement but he should no more do any part of the work 
for them than, as a teacher, he would do for a class. 

The problems of interscholastic and intercollegiate debat- 
ing are essentially the same. The emphasis this article places 
upon the importance of a correct perception of the true 
values of debating, both as a sport and as an educational 
influence, represents an opinion that has become widely ae- 
cepted during the past five years. The attainments of the 
ends in view would be greatly facilitated if there could be 
reasonable accord upon the issues, aims, and methods dis- 
cussed in this survey. 


THE GROUP DISCUSSION 


WILLIAM E. UTTERBACK 
Dartmouth College 


Our traditional emphasis on training in formal debate 18 
natural and proper in a democracy. The more successfully 
citizens can contribute to and appraise public discussion, the 
more enlightened will be self-government. | 

But this attention to formal debating has caused a neglect 
to another factor equally vital in training for citizenship— 
instruction in the art of group discussion. Public policies 
are tested in the legislative assembly or the public forum, but 
they originate in the committee room, the lobby, and the 
village store. Without these preliminary discussions pubhe 
debate is barren and futile. In this informal discussion 
we have, at its best, not competitive argument but cooperative 
thinking; speakers are motivated not by eagerness for fac- 
tional victory, but by a common desire to reach a mutually 
satisfactory solution of the problem. All members of the 
group pool their experience, eriticise in turn each of the 
many proposals springing from this variety of experience, 
and seek a solution, differing perhaps from all of the plans 
originally suggested, but embodying the more desirable 
features of each. No one denies the practical value of this 
process, but only recently has there been an attempt to formu- 
late a technique of discussion that might profitably be studied 
by those equipping themselves for citizenship. 

For the average citizen skill in discussion is incomparably 
more useful than skill in debating. The high school graduate 

181 


182 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


will not often have occasion to engage in public debate. But 
whether he enters public life, goes into business or a profes- 
sion, or simply participates with his neighbors in community 
enterprises, he will be called upon frequently to engage with 
his fellows in activities demanding codperative thinking; and 
as a procedure for codperative thinking, discussion far sur- 
passes debate. Experience has demonstrated that debating 
is most profitable when argument is restricted to two or at 
most to a very few alternative proposals. But in many ques- 
tions, and especially those most perplexing and difficult of 
solution, there are many solutions equally worthy of con- 
sideration. Informal discussion makes it possible, not only 
to examine any number of proposals, but to keep several ‘‘in 
the air’’ at the same time for comparison; to modify any pro- 
posal at will; and, of still greater importance, to combine the 
best features of several proposals in a solution quite different 
from any of those originally suggested. Discussion may be 
kept relatively free from that spirit of belligerent advocacy 
so apt to vitiate the public forum as an instrument for co- 
operative thinking. It avoids, more easily than debate, the 
emotionalism and crowd-mindedness that so frequently de- 
prive an audience of its capacity for rational judgment. It 
makes available, as debate does not, the collective experience 
and wisdom of each member of the group. It is the theory of 
the forum that the speakers do the creative thinking on the 
basis of their own individual experience while the function of 
the audience is restricted to that of judge. In true discus- 
sion, on the other hand, all members pool their experience, 
with a resulting richness of recourse in projecting solutions 
usually absent from the deliberations of an assembly. Per- 
haps the most serious objection to debate is the nature of its 
decision. Forensic discussion seldom results in a unanimous 
decision for either side. Consequently the result is at best 
the victory of a triumphant majority over a dissatisfied minor- 


THE GROUP DISCUSSION 183 


ity. This is frequently the best that can be done under any 
system. But it can at least be urged in favor of group dis- 
cussion that it affords a much better opportunity than debate 
for harmonizing conflicting views in a solution satisfactory 
to all parties. 

It would of course be idle to advocate the abandonment of 
the legislative debate as a method of conducting public busi- 
ness. Fair and open discussion from the platform followed 
by a count of noses must of necessity remain the court of final 
appeal in a democracy. Discussion and debate are equally 
necessary. Perhaps the relation between them might be 
stated as follows. When the existence of a common problem 
is recognized it is the function of the discussion group 
thoroughly to canvass available remedies, to arrive if possible 
at a solution harmonizing conflicting views, and, failing that, 
to clarify the issue until a definite and irreducible difference 
of opinion emerges. In the latter case the problem has gone 
beyond the province of group discussion and must be re- 
ferred to the public forum for debate and a decision by 
majority vote. 

The technique of group discussion, or as much of it as 
may profitably be presented to a class, may be stated very 
briefly. After the chairman has opened the discussion with a 
brief statement of the problem, any member may propose a 
solution and indicate his reasons for supporting it. If no 
solutions are forthcoming any member may make a state- 
ment or present an argument which he thinks useful in the 
analysis of the problem or the clarification of the issues in- 
volved in it. When a proposal is before the group all take 
turns examining it. The speaker may simply register his 
approval; he may support the proposal with additional argu- 
ment; or he may criticise it, pointing out its madequacy or 
its objectionable features. This criticism may take the form 
of a short informal talk or, better yet, may be expressed in a 


184 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


series of questions addressed to the member proposing the 
solution or to anyone who may be defending it. The proposal 
under discussion may be accepted as satisfactory to all; it 
may be definitely rejected by all; or a thorough canvass may 
reveal an irreducible difference of opinion concerning its 
merits. In the latter case it may be modified, combined with 
other proposals, or shelved temporarily while the group pro- 
ceeds to the examination of further proposals. When the 
merits of any proposal have been thoroughly threshed out 
the chairman will sum up the results of the examination and 
proceed to the next point. At the conclusion of the discus- 
sion he should sum up its results even though it has been im- 
possible to reach a solution satisfactory to all. 

For the sake of illustration suppose that we seat ourselves 
around the table as uninvited guests at a discussion by a 
group of eight or ten high school students. (If the teacher 
leading the discussion is wise, all guests will be uninvited. ) 
The members of this group are taking a course in English 
literature in which students are required to read several 
volumes outside of the classroom. The volumes on this read- 
ing list are at present on reserve for the use of the class in 
the reading room of the high school library. They may be 
used in this room at any time during the day but may not be 
taken home at night. The library is not open in the evening. 
All students in the course feel that this restriction on the use 
of the books is a serious inconvenience. The group is meeting 
to attempt a solution of the problem. 

The teacher, acting as chairman, briefly reviews the cir- 
cumstances attending the use of the books, mentions the num- 
ber of volumes on reserve and the number of students who 
must use them, and points out the seriousness of the resulting 
inconvenience. He states the problem in the form of a ques- 
tion: can any other arrangement for the use of the books 
be devised which will be more satisfactory to the students con- 


THE GROUP DISCUSSION 185 


cerned and likely to meet with the approval of the high school 
librarian? The discussion is then opened with the invitation, 
‘““Has anyone a tentative plan to present?’’ 

Several students have proposals in mind, and one responds 
at once, ‘‘ How would this plan work? Let the teacher issue a 
library card to each student in the English course. When a 
student wishes to take a book home he will sign the card and 
leave it with the librarian. Most of us have very little time to 
read during school hours; it would be a great help if we 
could take the books home with us.”’ 

‘“We’d enjoy the reading much more under this plan too,’’ 
adds another. ‘‘There is so much noise and confusion in the 
assembly room that one can’t enjoy reading there.’’ 

In criticism of the plan a third student puts a number of 
questions to its originator. ‘‘Under this plan will it be neces- 
sary for the student to return the book in the morning, or 
may he keep it until he is through with it?”’ 

‘He may keep it as long as he likes.’’ 

“Isn’t it likely then that all the books would soon disappear 
from the library ?’’ 

‘Yes, that does no harm so long as they are in use.”’ 

‘““But are there not a considerable number of students in 
the course who work in the evening and who consequently 
must use the books during school hours?’’ 

‘Yes, there are some.’’ 

‘““Well, Mr. Chairman, I don’t believe this plan would 
prove satisfactory, for it deprives some students of the use of 
the books altogether.’’ 

This appears to many a serious objection and the 
proposal is temporarily laid aside. The chairman sum- 
marizes the result of the discussion and invites further 
suggestions. 

‘“Why not petition the authorities to keep the library open 
during the evening? Those who wished to do so could then 


186 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


read in the evening without interfering with the use of the 
books during the day.’’ 

‘‘The Principal would not consent to open the library 
during the evening. The expense of lighting and heating the 
building and providing an extra librarian would be too great. 
You remember that he refused to keep the gymnasium open 
in the evening for basketball practice.”’ 

It is the consensus of opinion that this plan would not be 
approved by the Principal and it is definitely rejected. 

The suggestion that each student in the course buy private 
copies of the volumes on the reading list is also rejected as too 
expensive for many members of the course. 

‘Would it be possible to have these books placed on re- 
serve for the use of the class in the town library? It is open 
in the evening, is conveniently located, and has a very 
pleasant reading room. I think this could be done, for a 
similar arrangement was made last year in the freshman 
English course.”’ 

‘‘Do you mean that the books would be brought back to the 
high school library every morning and returned to the town 
library in the evening?’’ 

‘‘No, they would be kept permanently in the reading room 
of the town library.’’ 

‘‘T™hen how can the books be used by those students who 
work in the evening?’’ 

This question cannot be answered satisfactorily, and the 
plan is abandoned. 

As no more suggestions are forthcoming the chairman in- 
vites someone to devise a plan combining the two good 
features of those already discussed—namely, permission to 
use the books at home in the evening and availability of the 
books for use in the school library during the day. Finally 
some one suggests that a student desiring to use a book at 
home obtain the book from the school lbrarian immediately 


THE GROUP DISCUSSION 187 


after school closes at four o’clock, signing a card for it, and 
that he return it by ten minutes of nine the next morning. 
A fine of ten cents an hour is to be charged for books that 
are not returned on time; until the fine is paid the student 
is to be denied further use of all books, either at home or in 
the library. Money obtained from fines is to be turned over 
to the librarian for use in procuring extra copies of those 
volumes most in demand. 

‘‘This plan would satisfy every one. Those who wish to 
do so may read the books at home, and the system of fines 
insures that the books will always be available for use in the 
library during the day.”’ 

After some discussion this proposal is ea by the 
entire group. The chairman restates the plan, appoints two 
members to discuss it with the librarian, and dismisses the 
class. 

The success of this procedure will obviously depend in a 
large measure on the skill and judgment of the chairman. 
He is both the guide and the mouthpiece of the group. In 
opening the discussion he should formulate the problem, re- 
viewing briefly the circumstances surrounding it, and put it 
in the form of a question. If the discussion lags, as it fre- 
quently will, he must stimulate it by throwing out provocative 
questions and suggestions. Unless the group consists of dis- 
ciplined minds, trained in the use of the method, the discus- 
sion will frequently get off the track. It is the chairman’s 
duty to recall it to the point at issue. It is unwise however 
to tether discussion too shortly. Ranging rather freely 
around the point often suggests useful ideas that would not 
otherwise occur, provided the speaker keeps at least one eye 
on the problem. It is also the function of the chairman to 
unify and relate the discussion by pointing out the bearing 
of the various contributions on each other and on the problem 
as a whole. 


188 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


But success will depend quite as much on the attitude in 
which members approach the problem as on the method em- 
ployed. Very little can be accomplished unless all are ready 
to lay aside the rdle of advocate and approach the problem 
in the spirit of truth seekers. Codperation is indispensable. 
This means above all else that every member: must exercise 
tact. Any suggestion of belligerency or dogmatism in manner 
or statement must be carefully avoided. The attitude of the 
chairman is especially important. It will at times require all 
the tact he possesses to keep the discussion to the point with- 
out offending members who are hot on the pursuit of an ir- 
relevant pet idea. He may occasionally be obliged to divert 
the discussion, at least temporarily, from points that seem 
to be generating more heat than light. If the point in ques- 
tion is vital he must return to it when the atmosphere has 
cooled sufficiently, but he should approach it in such a way as 
not to revive the animosity of the previous discussion. — 

In conducting class work in discussion the teacher will find 
that much depends on the nature of the problem selected. It 
' must be of vital interest to the student, something that he per- 
sonally feels as a problem; it must be something of which 
he has considerable first-hand knowledge; and it must not be 
very difficult. Local school problems growing out of class- 
room or extracurricular activities are suitable for the first 
discussions. After the student has acquired some familiarity 
with the method simple public questions may be attempted, 
but they must be problems in which the student is really 
interested and on which he has some first-hand information. 
If his knowledge is derived primarily from reading, he will 
not feel the problem, nor will the class possess sufficient 
variety of experience to make the discussion fruitful. Local 
traffic and parking problems and difficulties growing out of 
the use of school and community property make good topics. 
Except for rather mature and well-read students national and 


THE GROUP DISCUSSION 189 


international problems will result in very barren discussions. 
A degree of ignorance that may be successfully concealed in 
formal debate will render a group discussion quite futile. 
In preparation for the class hour the student should be in- 
vited to think the problem over and to come to class with one 
or more tentative solutions in mind. It may prove helpful to 
him if the teacher suggests a list of thought-provoking ques- 
tions to stimulate his thinking. If a public question has been 
chosen the teacher may assign several magazine articles with 
which he has familiarized himself in advance. But elaborate 
or technical articles should be avoided. The purpose of the 
reading is rather to stimulate than to inform the student. 
Do not attempt the problem unless the student ean bring at 
least some first-hand knowledge to his study of the question. 

Good work cannot be done except with small groups, cer- 
tainly not more than twelve and preferably about eight. To 
secure the atmosphere of informality so important to success- 
ful discussion, seat the class in a circle, around a table if 
possible, and let them speak without standing. Do not allow 
them to make ‘‘speeches’’ at each other. The chairman must 
resist the temptation to hurry the discussion; patience in ex- 
amining new and unpromising ideas is essential to success. 
Nor should he attempt to lead the discussion too much. A 
session which closely follows a plan mapped out in advance 
by the chairman is not a real discussion. 

If it is not feasible to devote an entire course to discussion, 
some work in it may profitably be incorporated in any course 
in Public Speaking or Debating. It is a good plan in prepara- 
tion for a formal debate to devote one or more hours to in- 
formal discussion of the problem to be debated. Although the 
discussion may not result in a unanimous opinion it will 
clarify the issues and enable the class to formulate a debatable 
proposition. Another reason for this order of discussion and 
debate is that those qualities of tact and sweet reasonableness 


190 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


so essential to good debating are more easily developed in in- 
formal discussion than on the platform. 

The writer knows of no text on group discussion suitable 
for use in a secondary school course, especially if only a few 
weeks can be devoted to the work, but the teacher will find 
the following references suggestive: Follett, The New State; 
Hunt, ‘‘Dialectic: A Neglected Form of Argument,’’ 
Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, Vol. VII, No. 3, 
June, 1921, p. 221; Mosher, ‘‘Debate and the World We Live 
In,’’ Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, Vol. X, No. 4, 
November, 1924, p. 332; Sheffield, ‘‘Training Speakers for 
Conference,’’ Ibid., p. 325; Sheffield, Joining in Public 
Discussion. 


SILENT VERSUS ORAL READING IN THE 
SPEECH TRAINING PROGRAM 


DAVIS EDWARDS 
University of Chicago 


The fact that it seems necessary to discuss the subject of 
‘‘silent versus oral reading’’ is in itself an indication of edu- 
cational confusion. This confusion is chiefly the result of 
attempts to adjust methods of instruction to the valuable 
results of the investigations of silent reading conducted dur- 
ing the last two decades by such men as Judd, Courtis, Gray, 
King, and Starch. Some of the new practices based on their 
experiments are admirable; others are very bad. Investi- 
gators have sometimes drawn unwarrantable conclusions, and 
teachers have sometimes misunderstood and misapplied the 
just conclusions of the laboratory investigators. 

The theses of the present discussion are: (1) that both 
silent and oral reading when rightly taught are of great 
importance; (2) that the recent investigations of the read- 
ing process are of value only when properly applied; and 
(3) that silent and oral reading can be so related in the 
schools that they will help each other. 

Language involves two main factors: symbols and mean- 
ings. The symbols of oral language are the spoken words 
together with the vocal and physical expression which modify 
their meaning. The symbols of written language are written 
words. Silent reading involves the ability to interpret 
graphic language symbols so as to obtain meaning. Oral 
reading involves all that silent reading does, plus ability 

191 


192 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


to remember meaning long enough to retell it, plus the expres- 
sion of meaning in the symbols of oral language. In other 
words, oral reading consists of periods of alternate silent 
reading for the discovery of content and oral restatement of 
the content found. In order to be a good oral reader one must 
be a good silent reader; and no one can successfully teach 
oral reading without at the same time teaching silent reading. 

“It is now generally conceded that reading should be a 
thought-getting process from the very beginning. The newer 
methods of teaching beginning reading are, accordingly, an- 
alytic-synthetic; that is, they proceed from the whole to the 
part and back again to the whole. There is a strong tendency 
to begin with a story—well told—or with some familiar situa- 
tion, and then to lead the pupil to discover sentences, phrases, 
words, phonic or phonetic elements, and in time even letters. 
As fast as elements are discovered analytically the pupil is 
taught to combine them synthetically. Thus connected stories 
are built out of sentences, sentences out of words and phrases, 
and words out of phonic or phonetic elements. Such a pro- 
cedure—although not strictly logical from the adult point of 
view—is entirely in accord with the needs and interests of 
children.’’ + 

During the first three grades reading should be almost 
entirely according to oral methods. At this age the oral 
methods should be used not only as a means of developing self 
expression and of acquiring experience, but also to teach 
silent reading. The first school years are occupied largely 
with the mechanics of word mastery. In other words, the 
children are chiefly concerned with acquiring a vocabulary 
of visual symbols which correspond to the oral symbols of 
speech with which they are already acquainted. As Profes- 
sor Judd says, “‘Spoken language naturally dominates read- 
ing. Printed words are related not to things but to sounds 


*W. A. Smith, The Reading Process, page 89. 


SILENT VERSUS ORAL READING 193 


which make up the names of things. Letters are symbols of 
sounds, not pictures of objects. We may put pictures into 
reading books to illustrate the story, but the child cannot 
make a direct jump from the picture to the printed word. He 
must go by way of sounds.’’ About the middle of the first 
year, silent reading without accompanying oral expression 
may begin with simple exercises, such as following written 
directions to perform certain acts—for instance, opening a 
window or closing a door. At the end of the first year, chil- 
dren should have a reading vocabulary of several hundred 
words. During the second and third years this vocabulary 
should increase until it approximates the spoken vocabulary. 
From the first, oral reading should consist, not of the mere 
pronunciation of words, but of the discovery and retelling 
of ideas and images. This requires rhythmic eye movements 
and the ability to recognize whole groups of words as repre- 
senting single thought units. It will result in an increased 
rate of reading and in improved comprehension. 

About the end of the third year most children acquire a 
reading vocabulary equal to a spoken one. At that time they 
become able to recognize words more rapidly than it is possible 
to pronounce them. Thereafter silent reading may be taught 
as a technique distinct from oral reading. Oral reading 
should be continued, not as an aid to silent reading, but for 
its own sake. 

During the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades special methods 
of teaching silent reading should be used to enlarge the read- 
ing vocabulary, to decrease vocalization, to increase rate, and 
to improve comprehension. Through rather extensive silent 
reading, the pupil should be introduced to some of the rich- 
ness of life’s experience as recorded not in literature alone, 
but also in history, science, biography, and travel. Although 
some relatively unfamiliar and exacting material may be 
used, care should be taken to avoid losing contact with famil- 


194 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


iar things. As Judd says, ‘‘Reading should be enriched by 
concrete experiences, and concrete experiences should be 
classified and explained through reading.’’ 

An important, but neglected, problem of teaching reading 
in the intermediate grades arises from the need of developing 
different methods for different purposes and for different 
kinds of material. Not only should children form radically 
different mental habits for silent and for oral reading, but 
they should also acquire different habits for different kinds 
of silent reading. The mental activities involved in the silent 
reading of literature should be different from those involved 
in the silent reading of scientific material or newspaper arti- 
cles. Morever, when reading only for information, one may 
read “‘to get the gist of the passage,’’ to find a few specific 
facts, to follow directions given, and for many other reasons. 
Special methods and selected materials should teach students 
to “‘polarize’’ their minds in various ways for various kinds 
of content, and to use different techniques of interpretation 
for different purposes. 

At this point the relationship of rate of reading to compre- 
hension of meaning should be mentioned, not only because 
children usually make the greatest increase in speed during 
the intermediate grades, but also because an intelligent dis- 
cussion of this relationship must take into consideration the 
varlous purposes and materials of reading. Earlier investi- 
gators, as Miss Abell, concluded that the rapid reader tends 
to surpass the slow one in comprehension. But later inves- 
tigators, such as King, pointed out that the relationship be- 
tween rate and comprehension is a complex one and that the 
advantage is sometimes with the slow reader. With fairly 
easy subject matter, rapid reading may make it easier for 
one to get relative values and perspective. But when the 
material is difficult, or when the reader wishes to master de- 
tails, or when the passage is rich in imagery and connotation, 


SILENT VERSUS ORAL READING 195 


slower reading is much more acquisitive. Moreover, when a 
reader is found to have both better comprehension and greater 
speed, it can hardly be shown that the better comprehension 
comes from the greater speed. It may be that greater rapidity 
has been produced by better comprehension—i.e., by more 
skilful interpretation. 

By the end of the sixth grade, silent reading habits should 
be fairly well fixed: pupils should be self-dependent in acquir- 
ing words and meaning. In the intermediate grades oral 
reading is no longer an important means of developing silent 
reading. It should, nevertheless, continue to occupy an im- 
portant place in the curriculum. It should include intensive 
study and vocal rendition of poetry and those forms of prose 
which are intended for—and which therefore lend themselves 
to—oral interpretation.2 The teacher may develop the pupils’ 
interest to such an extent that they will eagerly read aloud 
to the class passages selected from their individual silent read- 
ings. They should be encouraged to give a brief explanation, 


2Oral reading should usually be limited to reading material which 
was written to be read aloud,—drama, oration, poetry,—as nearly as 
possible in the way it was intended to be read and for the purpose of 
bringing pleasure to an audience. The chief aim of oral reading should 
be the interpretation of feeling by means of the voice. If oral reading 
in English classes is limited rather strictly to these purposes and condi- 
tions it will open the way to a much needed improvement in teaching 
the technique of rapid silent reading. This latter is very much needed. 

Teachers are warned to distinguish between the use of silent reading 
in the teaching of literature and other subjects and the teaching of 
silent reading. A technique for the latter has only recently been 
developed and will be found described in a number of recent books on 
that subject. Some of these are given in the references following. 

It is especially to be noted that the material to be used in the teaching 
of silent reading should be informational and not literature. Literature 
is an end in itself and should not be used as a tool for teaching a 
method of information getting —From 4 Manual For the High Schools 
of Wisconsin, 1924, p. 50. 


196 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


and then to read aloud the exciting passages, the funny or 
witty portions, the climaxes, and the especially interesting 
character parts. 

If proper training in silent and oral reading has been given 
in the primary and intermediate grades, the pupils will have 
mastered the mechanics of the reading process and will have 
developed a variety of reading habits for various types of 
reading by the time they reach the seventh year. During the 
junior high school years, there should still be some special 
training for speed and comprehension in silent reading, and 
a great deal of oral reading. The pupils should acquire more 
and more thorough acquaintance with the intellectual and 
emotional inheritance of the race. Habits of silent reading 
should now be so well formed that, even without special super- 
vision, every lesson will improve the effectiveness of reading. 

The problems of reading in high school and college are not 
within the range of this article. 

Let us now consider some of the popular special methods 
of teaching silent reading. One of these is the ‘‘synthetic 
method’’ of training for speed. It may involve the use of 
various devices to stimulate the desire to read rapidly, but 
the children are given no instruction as to how to do so. In 
effect the method consists in saying to the pupil: ‘‘Read as 
fast as you can. But do not skip anything, for I am going 
to ask you to tell me what you have read.’’ According to 
published reports of investigators who have used this method, 
it considerably increases speed but often impairs compre- 
hension. It is obviously bad unless it is supplemented by ex- 
ercises which deal more directly with the mental processes 
of reading. It is always a dangerous method. Bad habits 
may become fixed if it is used too early in the grades, or if 
the children are forced to read too rapidly, or if they are 
not made to realize that comprehension is more important 
than speed. It tends to favor those who get only verbal 


SILENT VERSUS ORAL READING ley 


imagery, for such pupils can grasp the mere abstractions in- 
volved and thus read with considerable speed. The ‘‘synthetic 
method’’ is more appropriate for informative material than 
for literature—indeed it may destroy literary appreciation 
by forcing the reader to disregard imagery, connotation, and 
oral values. 

Some of the special methods of teaching silent reading are 
concerned with (1) developing a more effective use of the 
eye pauses during which perception of words and the acquisi- 
tion of meaning takes place, (2) widening the perceptual 
span, thus causing fewer fixation pauses of the eye, (8) de- 
veloping rhythmic eye movements, (4) eliminating retrogres- 
sive eye movements. 

All four of these habits, or phases of technique, may be 
improved by using flash ecards and the tachistoscope to encour- 
age alertness and to improve the mechanics of perception. 
But the development of skill in interpreting meaning offers 
an even greater opportunity for improvement. The mental 
process of interpretation does not readily yield itself to lab- 
oratory experiments. But there are, fortunately, methods 
by which children can be trained to develop habits of effective 
interpretation: to grasp details of thought as distinguished 
from words, to realize the growth of thought details into 
larger and larger units, to discriminate between the relative 
importance of details within a unit of thought and between 
the relative importance of whole thoughts, and to respond to 
vividness and clearness of imagery, richness of connotation, 
and emotional content. Professor S. H. Clark described the 
fundamentals of such a technique in his book How to Teach 
Reading in the Public School as long ago as 1898, and he has 
subsequently presented it more specifically in The Interpreta- 
tion of the Printed Page. 

One of the most important special methods for teaching 
silent reading seeks to eliminate actual vocalization and to 


198 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


reduce the articulatory movements of inner speech to a mini- 
mum. This is usually the easiest way to increase speed, 
especially in the intermediate grades. It is not possible to 
pronounce words aloud as rapidly as one can read them 
silently. But many persons who do not actually vocalize the 
sounds go through most of the articulatory movements which 
would be required to vocalize them, and thereby tend to 
limit the rate of silent reading to the rate of articulation. It 
is probable that at least the rudiments of articulation—or 
inner speech—are present in all silent reading. Nevertheless 
the ‘‘sub-voealization’’ may be minimized, and as it decreases 
the rate of reading may increase. Some investigators con- 
sider it advisable to attempt also to reduce the amount of 
auditory imagery of inner speech—i.e., to reduce the imagery 
of the sound of the words as spoken. It is contended that 
auditory imagery retards the reading rate; but this has not 
been proved. All investigators agree that the articulatory 
movements have a much more pronounced effect in reducing 
rate. 

If, in all their silent reading, pupils are trained to avoid 
auditory imagery and inner articulation,—or even to avoid 
only the inner articulation, they will fail fully to enjoy 
poetry, drama, stories, novels, and other material where sound, 
or a representation of speech, is essential to the effect desired 
by the writer. The musician, when composing, may not be at 
his instrument, but he must “‘hear’’ the melodies with ‘“‘his 
inner ear’’ in order to be able to record them on the music 
sheet. Another musician may, without using an instrument, 
‘‘hear’’ the music by ‘‘reading’’ the notes. Similarly the 
writer of lyrics, or of the speeches of a drama, or of the con- 
versations of stories or novels is ‘‘talking’’ and ‘‘hearing’’ as 
he writes. In other words, the writer is experiencing the 
inner articulation and the auditory imagery which belong to 
the words. Even if we do not actually read such selections 


SILENT VERSUS ORAL READING 199 


aloud, we must, when reading silently, experience at least this 
measure of ‘‘talking’’ and ‘“‘hearing.’’ 

The most profitable time for the use of all the special 
methods referred to is in the intermediate grades. And there 
is usually need for them in the junior high school. 

It is well recognized that scientifically controlled tests for 
reading are still in the early experimental stage. At present 
we can test accurately the rate of silent and of oral reading. 
We can also test orally the mastery of words as phonograms. 
For example, W. S. Gray has prepared tests for pronuncia- 
tion, omission of words, substituting one word for another, 
insertion of words not included in the text, and repetition. 
These tests, however, deal merely with the mechanics of 
speech. They make no attempt to measure skill in interpreta- 
tion. The numerous tests devised for the measurement of 
comprehension of words, sentences and paragraphs are less 
satisfactory. They are better for testing the acquisition of 
informative material than for determining literary or im- 
aginative appreciation. They serve fairly well for measuring 
ability to grasp facts or abstract ideas but fail to provide ade- 
quate tests of imagery, connotation, and emotional response. 
Indeed, although the tests invented so far are of real value, 
they measure only the more obvious aspects of the reading 
process. If an investigator gathers his evidence from all the 
tests of Jones, Haggerty, Gray, Thorndike, Starch, McCall, 
Monroe, and Courtis, he must still base his conclusions on an 
incomplete analysis of the reading process. And laboratory 
experiments, as distinguished from quantitative tests, have 
not been able to complete this investigation. 

Because of the frequent pleas for ‘‘more silent and less 
oral reading in the schools,’’ it is well to recognize the follow- 
ing facts: (1) Both oral and silent reading are often so 
taught that neither can be defended. Where oral reading 
fails to be an interesting interpretation of meaning and be- 


200 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


comes a mere pronunciation of words, or where no specific 
training in silent reading is provided, radical adjustments in 
the curriculum should be made. Where over-emphasis on 
silent reading results in the neglect of systematic training in 
oral reading, great injustice and injury is done the pupils 
unless some other form of speech training is required: for 
many of them will have no opportunity to relearn speech 
habits in high school or college. 

In the situations described, grade school teachers are shift- 
ing their responsibilities to teachers in the high schools and 
colleges. Thus speech training above the grades too often 
becomes a problem, not of education, but of re-education. 
But even where other forms of speech training are provided 
the situation is still bad if oral reading is neglected. The 
pupils are deprived of one of the most valuable means of 
developing personality and of improving speech habits. With- 
out oral reading it is impossible to teach literature properly. 
The social values of reading aloud are lost. And the children 
are deprived of a rightful pleasure; for when the work is 
properly conducted they really enjoy oral reading. More- 
over, special methods of teaching silent reading may decrease 
comprehension in general,—may destroy imagery, connota- 
tion, and oral values, and make a really critical reaction to 
material unlikely or impossible. Such results are detrimental 
to the real ends sought in both silent and oral reading. 

(2) When silent and oral reading are properly taught, they 
help each other. In the lower grades, as we have seen, oral 
reading is a necessary approach to teaching silent reading. 
On the other hand, oral reading is dependent on silent read- 
ing because good oral reading requires a silent discovery of 
meaning alternating with the oral restatement of that mean- 
ing. <A training which develops rhythmic eye movements, 
increases the perceptual span, and makes the use of the read- 
ing pause more effective, is needed for oral reading quite as 


SILENT VERSUS ORAL READING 201 


much as for silent reading. When used by teachers who 
understand the psychology of expression, oral methods will 
test many aspects of comprehension better than the silent 
reading tests. 

(3) Both types of reading can be adequately taught in the 
schools without interfering with one another. Silent reading 
need do no harm to oral expression if students are enabled to 
develop different mental attitudes and different techniques 
for different purposes and materials. Variety of method can 
prevent speed from destroying imagery, connotation, and 
oral values in literature. If efficient methods are used ade- 
quate time for silent reading need not preclude plenty of oral 
reading for its own sake. Oral reading, on the other hand, 
always involves training in effective interpretation of mean- 
ing, although it cannot (and need not) be training in rapid 
reading. Training in silent reading should always be a sup- 
plement to oral reading. 

No sound reason for eliminating ora! reading from any of 
the grades has yet been discovered. 

The advocates of more silent and less oral reading have 
little interest in the problems of general speech training. 
They usually do not object to speech training. They simply 
ignore it. They leave it for some one else to take care of — 
which is all very well. But they unfortunately underestimate 
the value of oral reading as a means of speech training, be- 
cause to them oral reading nearly always means poor oral 
reading. Moreover, these advocates are inclined to insist that 
the superior value of silent reading as a tool for acquiring 
information be made the only standard for determining (1) 
whether oral or silent reading is more important, (2) how 
much time should be devoted to each, (3) how each should be 
taught, and (4) how the results of the teaching should be 
tested. Obviously we cannot judge by such a simple standard: 
both silent and oral reading have functions besides that of 


902 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


providing us with facts. Let us encourage every intelligent 
effort to make silent reading a more effective tool for acquir- 
ing, not facts merely, but all of the varied experiences of life. 
Let us not forget that there should also be a systematic pro- 
eram of speech training throughout the grades. And of such 
a program of speech training oral reading must be an essen- 
tial and important part. 


THE ORAL INTERPRETATION 
OF LITERATURE 


- LEE EMERSON BASSETT 
Leland Stanford University 


THE RELATION OF ORAL READING TO LITERATURE 


Despite the emphasis given to silent reading nowadays, 
expressive reading aloud remains the one way possible of 
making the literature of power—poetry, drama, and prose of 
highly imaginative and spiritual quality—a real and living 
thing to the minds of students. Poetry, like music, is ad- 
dressed to the ear. Drama is recorded speech. It is meant 
to be heard. The beauty and moving qualities of prose of 
fine literary character, such as Stevenson’s ‘‘The Lantern 
Bearers,’’ elude the eye. Silent reading, analysis, and dis- 
cussion may prepare the mind for intelligent attention, but 
the ultimate means of realizing and revealing the reality of 
dramatic characters, and the beauty and power of poetry and 
of prose of literary merit is the voice. To neglect oral read- 
ing in the study of literature, reading in which pupils are 
bent on the problem of expressing the meaning, is nothing 
less than the neglect of those vital elements that are the secret 
of its power. 


AIMS IN ORAL READING 


In its broadest sense, therefore, oral reading has for its 
aim the realization of the cultural and humanizing possibili- 
ties inherent in the best literature. Reading aloud is not an 
end in itself. It is but a means to an end, that of communi- 

203 


204 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


eating the thought and spirit of literature to others. And 
if thought and spirit are to be communicated, they must be 
possessed by the reader.t Good reading implies, then, (1) the 
ability to analyze and understand the meaning of what is 
written, (2) ready and true response to the thought, (3) the 
willingness and the desire to share thought and emotion with 
others, and (4) the ability to express these in natural, force- 
ful, and attractive utterance. Such training, when rightly 
carried out, calls forth the best powers of mind, imagination, 
heart, and voice. Oral reading is no incidental or perfunctory 
matter but is a discipline of deep significance in education.? 


STANDARDS IN ORAL READING 


1. The standards of form in oral reading should be such 
as are set by clear thought and the reader’s sympathetic per- 
sonal adjustment to it. The technique of expressive reading 
grows out of the demand of mind and feeling and the read- 
er’s intention. One may know no ‘‘rules’’ of expression 
yet may read well. The style sought and insisted upon should 
be simple and should have those elements of conversational 
form consistent with the characters of the selection. De- 


*See ‘One Imperative Plus,’’ by Ralph B. Dennis. Quarterly Journal 
of Speech Education, Vol. VIII, No. 3, June, 1922, p. 219 ff. 

***Not less important than the art of writing is the art of speaking, 
which includes practice not only in framing questions and answers, but 
also in reading aloud, recitation, debating and drama. Many of our 
witnesses agree that the power to read audibly and intelligibly is dis- 
tressingly rare.... The art of reading aloud cannot be imposed by 
one person on another—hby the teacher on the child; it must come from 
within, from a real understanding and appreciation of the passage read; 
but it can be strengthened by frequent exercise. Artificiality is to be 
avoided, but so, too, is slovenliness, whether in articulation or in 
emphasis. A reasonable study of phonetics by the teacher should enable 
him to give guidance and to correct some of the most common and 
jarring mistakes of pronunciation.’’—The Teaching of English in Eng- 
land. London, 1921, p. 111. 


THE ORAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 205 


clamatory, elevated, elocutionary style, indeed any assumed, 
self-conscious manner of expression which ealls attention to 
the delivery rather than to the meaning of what is spoken, 
should be promptly discouraged and corrected. 

2. Phrasing, inflection, subordination, emphasis, time, 
melody, and quality of tone are vocal evidence of clear 
thought and direct feeling. Attention should be called to 
the technical principles of expressive speech only incidentally 
and as a means of helping the pupil to realize that all vocal 
changes are significant and that there is an expressive vocabu- 
lary of tone as well as of words—that the meaning and ap- 
peal of words depends largely on the way they are spoken. 
The teacher should have a thorough knowledge of the tech- 
nical principles of reading as a guide in determining mental 
and emotional causes of faulty expression. But expressive 
vocal modulations should not be studied in and for them- 
selves by the class; they should be elicited, rather, by such 
suggestions, explanations, and questions as shall serve to 
quicken the pupil’s thought, reveal meanings, and prompt 
true emotional response. Such occasional questions as ‘* What 
did you tell us just now?’’ ‘‘ What does the sentence say?’’ 
‘What is the point of that phrase?’’ are often helpful in 
bringing out definite meanings and natural vocal expres- 
sion. Grasp of thought and response to feeling, not con- 
scious effort to manipulate the voice arbitrarily, result in 
genuine and convincing expression. 

3. ‘‘True emotional response’’ is easily said; but to secure 
it is one of the most perplexing and difficult problems in 
oral reading and literary study. Students often give evi- 
dence of intellectual comprehension of the meaning of what 
they read without manifesting any enjoyment or realization 
of imaginative and emotional values. It remains for the 
teacher to quicken their imaginations and to awaken their 
spirits to these finer issues. In this the teacher must depend 


206 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


almost wholly upon her ability to read aloud. If she can 
read well, she may expect a prompt response and more ap- 
preciative reading from the class. If she cannot—well, 
she should not presume to teach either literature or reading 
until she has had training in this very essential art and is 
capable of vocally interpreting the letter and the spirit of 
the printed page in adequate and attractive form. The read- 
ing of the competent teacher, both in the oral reading and 
the regular English classes, is an indispensable factor of the 
training—it contributes to the pupil’s understanding and 
enjoyment of what he reads and hears read, adds zest to his 
efforts, and vitalizes the work generally. The teacher sets 
the standard of the class. 


MATERIAL 


An abundance of suitable material for oral reading may 
be found in lists of books and selections prescribed and sug- 
gested for study and reading for literature classes of the 
various grades. (See Bureau of Education Bulletin, No. 2, 
1917.) Anthologies of poetry and prose such as Palgrave’s 
Golden Treasury, The Oxford Book of English Verse, 
Cooper’s Poetry of Today, Mikel’s Short Stories for High 
School, Johnson’s Modern Literature for Oral Interpreta- 
tion, and Tassin’s The Oral Study of Literature, provide a 
good variety of selections. While due care should be ex- 
ercised in choosing literature adapted to the age and grade 
of the pupil, selections inferior in content, truth, and literary 
quality should be avoided. The teacher of oral reading shares 
equally with the teacher of literature the responsibility of 
establishing standards of judgment and taste. 


THE ORAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 207 


Ciass Work ? 


1. All assignments should be carefully made and definite 
problems of thought, imagery, and emotion should be indi- 


$<<Tt should be the aim of the school to teach every pupil to read aloud 
audibly, clearly and intelligently. Audibility, the prime condition, is 
very frequently not secured. It is by no means an unknown experience 
to find a class at work, even on a phonetic drill, without any proper 
standard of audibility being reached. It is, unfortunately, still the 
prevailing practice in a pure reading lesson, that is, a lesson the pri- 
mary object of which is to teach the pupils to read aloud, to set the 
pupil to read to the teacher and the class whilst these are all reading 
in their books. Thereby the greatest of all incentives to any reader, 
namely, an audience, is lost. 

‘¢Bad reading is sometimes due, not to the weakness of the pupil, but 
to the wrong choice of material. Poorly written stuff is necessarily 
hard to read, and, if the matter is poor also, the difficulty is intensified 
by the lack of interest. Material that contains much detailed informa- 
tion is unsuitable, as in general is anything which it would be difficult 
for the class, unfurnished with the text, to grasp if it were well read 
to them. A teacher remarked recently that his form read the book of 
Daniel very much better than anything else. 

‘Tt is insufficiently recognized that reading aloud at sight is always 
difficult; very frequently boys should be allowed to read the passage 
through to themselves so as to grasp its meaning, before being required 
to read it aloud; this is true both of young boys who have not mastered 
the mere mechanical difficulties and of the older ones who are reading 
material which requires thought... . 

‘<The pupil may easily overcome mechanical difficulties, but if his 
reading is to possess a lively quality his rendering must be marked by 
right emphasis. It is emphasis mainly that gives life to spoken lan- 
guage, and the right emphasis can come only from understanding. The 
pupil has a double task—to understand the passage himself and to make 
it intelligible to others. He needs to learn how to prepare the passage 
from both points of view. Neither in reading aloud nor in repetition 
is it desirable to confuse the exercise with acting or with ‘‘elocution’’ 
of a strained or artificial kind. 

‘(In no part of the school work does the result vary so directly with 
the teacher as in reading aloud. The question is not primarily one 


208 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


cated. Assignments of selections for general class study, 
analysis, and reading should constitute a large part of the 
work. Since the style of reading desired is that of conver- 
sation at its best, it will ordinarily be found advantageous 
to begin with simple prose. The conversational character of 
reading is more readily brought out and realized in the read- 
ing of the essay and narrative type of literature in which 
expression is not complicated by rhythm, metre, melody and 
rhyme. In the case of long compositions, portions may be 
assigned to individual pupils for special study and inter- 
pretation before the class. To insure a background of under- 
standing and information necessary for the consistent in- 
terpretation of the thought and spirit of the several parts, 
written analyses and summaries of the entire selection may 
be required of each pupil. 

2. Variety and interest may be given to the work, the 


of district, although the district is often given as the excuse for bad 
reading. Sometimes in neighboring schools of the same type the stand- 
ard of articulation varies from excellent to intolerably bad. The essen- 
tial aim is that the pupil should read clearly and audibly, whatever 
the local dialect. The question of local dialect peculiarities is a separate 
one. 

‘‘Our general standard of reading aloud, although improving, is inex- 
cusably low. It is clearly the business of the teacher of English to train 
his pupils to read, and results gained by individual teachers, and in 
Some schools, show conclusively that high attainment is within reach. 

‘Whilst much may be gained by imitation when the teacher is himself 
an excellent reader, the motive force is to be found in the pupil’s own 
pleasure and pride in a due rendering of a passage. It may possibly 
be instructive for the class if the teacher takes the part of Shylock in a 
reading of ‘‘The Merchant of Venice,’’ or if he reads ‘‘Horatius’’ 
through to a Fourth Form, but he justifies his profession in a higher 
degree if his pupils acquit themselves well in similar efforts. Whatever 
plan he follows, it is obviously his task to see that in the end each 
of his pupils, to the measure of his ability, does so acquit himself, ’’— 
Some Suggestions for the Teaching of English in Secondary Schools in 
England. London, 1924, p. 13. 


THE ORAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 209 


pupil’s initiative encouraged, and his ability to interpret 
selections to the class as an audience may be tested by oc- 
casional assignments of poems and short units of prose for 
individual preparation and reading, each member of the 
class being given an opportunity to contribute his or her 
part of the program of the hour or the week. 

3. Pupils should be required to memorize a specified num- 
ber of lines of poetry or fine passages of prose. Selections 
for memorization should preferably be designated by the 
teacher. If the pupil is allowed to choose for himself, the 
teacher should pass upon the merits of the lines and their 
adaptability to the needs and capacity of the student. Se- 
lections should be so thoroughly fixed in mind as to become 
permanent possessions of the memory. The memorized lines 
may be the subject of study and drill in private conference 
with the teacher. When mastered, they should be recited 
to the class, not as declamations or recitations—the terms 
suggest lofty style—but as simple, earnest efforts to render 
the lines with such meaning and force and attractiveness as 
shall impress their beauty and truth on others. 

4. Frequent opportunity should be given for practice in 
sight reading to and for the class. Properly directed sight 
reading acquaints the pupil with the problem of rapid 
thought-getting during pauses and the direct, easy communi- 
cation of the thought to those before him by voice, counte- 
nance, and eyes. When he realizes that he is not reading to 
the book but to convey thought to others, he will seek the 
ability to grasp the meaning of a phrase or sentence at a 
glance and to devote some attention to the audience during 
the utterance of what his eyes and mind have taken in. The 
furtive, perfunctory lifting of the eyes from the text, in 
obedience to instruction and in fear of losing the place, is 
neither expressive nor communicative. The pupil may learn 
through practice to train the eye to quick and accurate 


210 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


vision and to find such interest in his audience and in com- 
municating the thought of the printed page to them that he 
will feel impelled to lift his eyes to theirs at frequent in- 
tervals. Selections for sight reading should be sufficiently 
simple in style to be easily comprehended and of a character 
to awaken the lively interest of the reader and the auditor. 


CRITICISM 


Much of the success of.the work in oral reading, and in 
literary study as well, depends on the spirit of the class- 
room. Free, spontaneous, true expression can be secured 
only under normal, friendly, and encouraging conditions. 
The responsibility rests with the teacher. Her attitude to- 
ward the work and toward the members of the class deter- 
mines the attitude of the class toward their tasks, each other, 
and the teacher. Nowhere is the teacher’s attitude revealed 
more clearly than in criticism. Criticism should be in- 
variably fair, patient, constructive, and encouraging, Nega- 
tive, fault-finding criticism, and comparison of the efforts of 
one student with those of another, put the pupils on the 
defensive through fear or a feeling of inferiority and self- 
consciousness. But where the class spirit is genial and 
when good-will, happiness, and sincerity prevail, teacher and 
pupils may codperate in kindly, well-meant, and well-taken 
suggestions and criticism. Mannerisms, vocal difficulties, 
faulty enunciation, awkwardness, all personal peculiarities 
which, if talked about in class would tend to make the pupil 
self-conscious and self-distrustful, should be dealt with in 
private conferences. In class, teacher and pupils should di- 
rect their attention, not to faults and weaknesses of the 
reader, nor to incidental matters of technique, but to the 
problem of how best to interpret the literature read to the 
end that its meaning and spirit may be understood and 
enjoyed by all. 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 


From 
THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN ENGLAND" 


INTRODUCTORY 


Owing to historical circumstances there was a complete 
breach between dramatic art in England and national edu- 
eation in all its forms from the middle of the seventeenth 
to the closing years of the nineteenth century. Hence it has 
only recently begun to be realized that drama played a very 
important part in the English School and University system 
of instruction in the reigns of the Tudors and the early 

tuarts. The practice began with the acting of Classical 
' plays, usually those of Seneca, Plautus or Terence. These 
plays were followed by neo-Latin dramas from the pens of 
continental humanists or written by English scholars them- 
selves. Though the performances often took place on recrea- 
tive or ceremonial occasions, they had a definitely educa- 
tional aim. As one of the Oxford academic playwrights 
states, their purpose was to make the students ‘‘well ac- 
quainted with Seneca or Plautus ... to try their voices, 
and confirm their memories; to frame their speech; to con- 
form them to convenient action.’’ 


1The Teaching of English in England, Being the Report of the De- 
partmental Committee Appointed by the President of the Board of Edu- 
cation to Inquire into the Position of English in the Educational System 
of England, London, His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1921. Distrib- 
uted in the United States by The Atlantic Monthly Press. 
211 


212 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


In the latter part of the period English plays were also 
performed, with similar objects. These plays were not bor- 
rowed from the repertory of the public theaters, but were 
written for the students by schoolmasters or University lee- 
turers. Apart from the Universities, Eton and Westmin- 
ster, St. Paul’s and Merchant Taylor’s, King’s School, Can- 
terbury, and Shrewsbury were the chief centers of this 
educational dramatic activity. Many a boy must have learnt 
from acting a part in the performances ‘‘to fit,’’ in Thomas 
Heywood’s well-known words, ‘‘his phrases to his action and 
his action to his phrases, and his pronunciation to both.’’ 

In the present day, with the increasing recognition of 
the importance of speech-training in its widest aspects, this 
favorite Renaissance method is being revived. We have 
referred to it incidentally in the course of our Report, and 
we here deal with it in greater detail, in its application to 
modern educational conditions. 


ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS 


For purposes of school work the Drama may be con- 
sidered in three aspects: (1) as something to be written ; 
(2) as something to be read; (3) as something to be acted. 

The writing of plays in schol is a form of English com- 
position, and a very valuable and practical form. If the 
adoption of play-making, as an exercise in writing, became 
more general, some part of the energy of teacher and pupil 
might be diverted from the unprofitable task of premature 
essay writing. In a sense children are primitive beings, 
and the essay is not a primitive form. Epics existed be- 
fore essays; the world had a large body of narrative and 
dramatic literature before it arrived at the essay; and yet 
it is precisely this difficult and fragile form of composition 
that immature pupils are expected to produce. Children 
know what a story or a play is long before they know what 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 213 


an essay is. They can understand writing a story for the 
class magazine, or a play for a class performance, but, for 
them, the ‘‘essay’’ has no purpose. 

The collective composition of a play may be attempted 
by quite young pupils. As soon as boys are old enough 
to enjoy a ballad or a story in verse they should try to 
dramatize it. The defense of the bridge by Horatius is an 
exciting story, and the class will like to ‘‘do it in action.”’ 
But action without words is only half the fun. The class 
will therefore have to ‘‘suit the words to the action.’’ They 
must decide the point at which they will begin, the speaker 
who is to open the scene and the words he is to utter. 
The sentences approved by the class will be written down 
by the teacher (who is merely the scribe), and when some- 
thing like a scene has been achieved, it can be tried over, 
and its shortcomings detected and corrected. The one scene 
can be expanded to two or more as the exigencies of the 
story demand, and so a play is made. A familiar story 
or fairy tale or a famous historical incident can be dramatized 
in the same way. 

An older class will not be content with a simple scene 
or two of which the plan is more or less ready made, but 
will like to invent a drama of its own. History is again a 
fruitful source. Consider the training involved in the com- 
position of a drama on the subject, say, of Sir Walter 
Raleigh! There is the actual work of planning the whole 
drama; then of planning each scene, of fitting the characters 
with becoming words, and of making the scenes accord with 
the conditions of time and space—of time and space in the 
artistic, historical sense, and of time and space in the prac- 
tical, theatrical sense. This is training in the writing of 
English such as periodical attempts at essays will never 
give. It is, in the fullest sense, practical English composition. 

The drama, considered as reading (except in the higher 


214 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


forms of Secondary Schools), usually means Shakespeare. 
A class that has composed and acted its own plays is in 
a much better position to read other plays than the class 
that makes its first acquaintance with drama in the form 
of a printed book called ‘‘The Merchant of Venice.’’ 
Shakespeare is an inevitable and necessary part of school 
activity because he is not only our greatest English writer 
but because his work is almost entirely in dramatic form. 
But it is not always sufficiently recognized that Shakespeare 
presents great difficulties. When we sometimes slightingly 
contrast English indifference to Shakespeare with German 
enthusiasm we forget that German-Shakespeare is written 
in a language that every German understands and that 
English-Shakespeare is written in a language that every 
Englishman does not understand. Much of Shakespeare’s 
speech . . . is so remote as to be an unfamiliar tongue. Some 
poets (e.g., Wordsworth) are verbally easy, and some poets 
(e.g., Francis Thompson) are verbally difficult. In many 
passages Shakespeare is not only difficult, but archaic as 
well; and thus he seems doubly unsuitable for young read- 
ers. Fortunately he is saved for the schools by his won- 
derful power of re-telling a story in dramatic form, and 
his equally wonderful power of characterization, and, we 
may add, his incomparable mastery of word-musie. Indeed, 
it is Shakespeare the poet as much as Shakespeare the 
dramatist to whom we must introduce our pupils. The 
teacher’s business is to give Shakespeare’s scenes and char- 
acters the best chance of impressing themselves naturally 
on a class, and his task, therefore, is to remove the impedi- 
ments. Now extensive annotation will not only not remove 
the impediments: it will actually add more. How ean such 
a passage as this be ‘‘explained’’ to boys and girls of four- 
teen, who are, nevertheless, quite able to. respond to the 
marvelous dramatic appeal of Macbeth? 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 215 


DAG City tanh ke Aas See if the assassination 
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, 
With his sureease, success; that but this blow 
Might be the be-all and the end-all here, 
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, 
We’d jump the life to come. 


In vocabulary this passage is not specially difficult, but 
in significance it is almost inexplicable. Until the reader 
can envisage the great and subtle sweeps of phrase with 
the occasional poise upon some telling word, he cannot read 
Shakespeare fully. 

What, then, is the teacher to do? He must do nothing 
at all with Shakespeare until he is moderately sure that for 
himself the impediments have all been removed. Shake- 
speare is not like a musician who can be read at sight. 
For this reason it seems inadvisable that the first reading 
of a play should be undertaken by the young pupils them- 
selves. If Shakespeare were easy, there would be no better 
way of class-reading than an immediate plunge into part- 
by-part delivery; as he is difficult it is better that the class 
should get their first impressions from a skilled and under- 
standing reader, as the teacher must be assumed to be. 
No pause should ever be made for explanations. Such dif- 
ficulties as are merely verbal should have been dealt with 
beforehand—a vocabulary should have been prepared by the 
teacher and treated as an exercise in itself, apart from the 
reading. A bare equivalent of the unusual words will make 
intelligible the music of such a passage as this :— 


Make me a willow cabin at your gate, 

And call upon my soul within the house; 
Write loyal cantons of contemned love, 

And sing them loud even in the dead of night; 
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills, 

And make the babbling gossip of the air 

Cry out ‘‘ Olivia.’’ 


~ 


216 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


The difficulties that are more deeply implicated must simply 
be passed over. We have to accept as inevitable the fact 
that many passages of Shakespeare cannot be understood 
by children. A discussion of Shakespeare’s language and 
style can be a valuable and delightful lesson for senior 
pupils; but it is a lesson that has nothing to do with the 
drama, and certainly nothing to do with a dramatic reading. 

A very brief sketch of the Elizabethan playhouse and the 
conditions of performance might very well precede the read- 
ing of the first play. It would be an additional advantage 
if a model of the Shakespearian theater could be exhibited in 
the school. 

The selected play should be read through as quickly 
as possible. When it has been read, it can be discussed 
in pleasant and informal conversation—it can be treated 
as something delightful to talk about; and then it ean be 
attempted as a real dramatic reading, with parts allotted. 

Teachers will naturally use their discretion in choosing 
the plays to be read in class. They will not begin with A 
Winter’s Tale, or Cymbeline, or ever attempt such adult 
plays as All’s Well that Ends Well and Measure for Measure. 
They must not allow their enthusiasm to reach the height 
of a belief that there is a sacred English institution called 
‘‘Shakespeare,’’ all of which is verbally inspired. In plays 
that children might read there are dull passages that are 
better omitted—the tediously protracted dialogue, for in- 
stance, between Malcolm and Macduff in Act 4, Se. iii. 
of Macbeth. Between Act 2, Se. ii. of Hamlet and Act 2, 
Se. il. of The Merchant of Venice there is a wide world of 
difference, and we must not pretend to children that they 
are equally splendid. And there are minor plays that are 
better left alone in school. So few plays can be read that 
it seems a pity to spend time upon these minor ones when 
there is so much that is better. Adult students might 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 217 


very profitably attempt a reading of an unusual play like 
Troilus and Cressida; young pupils should be kept to the 
normal course. Enthusiasm for Shakespeare in school is 
very delightful; but a teacher to whom Twelfth Night and 
The Taming of the Shrew are both equally Shakespeare is 
not a person who can be safely trusted with Shakespeare at 
all. 

After the age of about fourteen the range can be widened. 
The Rivals or She Stoops to Conquer makes an excellent 
class play, and The Critic can be great fun; so can The 
Knight of the Burning Pestle. With senior pupils the 
adventurous teacher may go earlier and later—earlier to 
such things as one of the Nativity plays, Everyman or some 
of the Tudor Interludes, and later to the printed drama of 
modern times. How far the translated drama should be 
used is a matter about which opinions may properly differ. 
It may be pointed out, however, that FitzGerald’s adapta- 
tion of the two great Calderon dramas is almost as much 
a part of English literature as his paraphrase of Omar. The 
purist may object that Professor Gilbert Murray’s transla- 
tions are not Greek: but he will hardly deny that they are 
excellent English. Whatever is read should, as a rule, be 
in the main current of literature. Young pupils should 
not be confused by an early exploration of backwaters that 
lead nowhere. 

The drama, considered as acting, will take three forms :— 

(a) the performance of scenes or pieces in class, 

(b) the public performance of plays by pupils, 

(c) visits by pupils to professional performances of suit- 

able plays. 

If it is considered necessary to offer a defense of dramatic 
performances as a part of education, we may say that the 
drama is an ancient and honored form of literature that 
has enlisted the powers of the greatest poets, and afforded 


218 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


rational delight to a hundred generations of civilized beings. 
The sooner a child becomes familiar with the best forms of 
theatrical amusement the less likely is he to be permanently 
attracted by the worst. It is a most important, though 
often forgotten, function of education to teach young men 
and women the use of leisure, and the best possibilities of 
rational amusement. The frequently heard criticism, that 
taking children to the theater will not help them to earn 
a living, indicates a gross. misunderstanding of the purpose 
of education. Education is preparation for life, not merely 
for livelihood: and any school activity that contributes to 
the amenities of existence and intercourse is a necessary and 
laudable part of the educational system. 

The pupils who take part in performances of plays must 
learn to speak well and to move well, to appreciate char- 
acter and to express emotion becomingly, to be expansive 
yet restrained, to subordinate the individual to the whole 
and to play the game, to be resourceful and self-possessed 
and to overcome or mitigate personal disabilities. It will 
hardly be suggested that these are negligible accomplish- 
ments. Incidentally it has been found that boys or girls 
usually regarded as stupid, and incapable of learning, have 
exhibited unsuspected ability in acting and have gained a 
new interest in themselves and their possibilities. Ability 
to do something is the first ingredient of self-respect. On 
this point we may quote the evidence of a witness: ‘* Drama- 
tization by children had a marvelous effect on their speech, 
producing clear articulation, and it also had a valuable effect 
on their characters, as children would work for the success 
of the play and not for themselves. It afforded a train- 
ing in judgment, in self-confidence, and in general alertness.’’ 

The pupils who only look on miss something of all this, 
but they get a useful sense of participation in a school 
activity: and they get, too, something that the drama can 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 219 


specially give, the immediate sense of a completed thing, 
of an artistic whole with beginning, middle, and end. It 
is unnecessary to dwell upon the educative value of a spec- 
tacle that shows, in a spirit of poetry and magnanimity, 
character in action, developing to greatness or lapsing to 
disaster, triumphing in apparent failure or failing in appar- 
ent success. 

Class performances are joyous and instructive adventures. 
They may range from happy improvisations to a formal 
show on a special occasion. In their Elizabethan inadequacy 
of equipment they make an excellent introduction to the 
conditions of Shakespearian drama. A school performance, 
even with very limited resources, can be delightful and 
profitable to everybody. An Elementary Boys’ School in 
South London recently gave a performance of Richard II. 
that could be witnessed with pleasure by any audience. The 
scenery and properties were very simple and were improvised 
in the school itself. The costumes were designed and ex- 
ecuted by the teachers and parents in consultation, and 
achieved something like historical propriety. The total 
period occupied in preparation, from the first trial reading 
to the first performance, was twelve weeks, and that with- 
out dislocation of the ordinary school work. The youngest 
actor was ten, the oldest fourteen. 

In many of the Secondary Schools performances of Shake- 
spearian and other Elizabethan plays, of Euripides in Pro- 
fessor Gilbert Murray’s translation, and of Gilbert and 
Sullivan operas have been given with credit to all concerned. 
Such performances have their inevitable shortcomings, but 
their spirit is sound, and we have had abundant testimony 
to their value as a means of education. 

In districts where a genuine dialect survives there will 
probably be found some traditional fragments of old folk 
plays. It would seem to be a special duty of educational 


220 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


establishments to cherish this inheritance and to place it, 
in its best form, before the later generations as a true ex- 
pression of the spirit of their fathers. 

Visits to public performances of plays studied in class 
‘are an officially recognized form of educational activity. The 
Board of Education specifically allows them under Article 
44 (b) of the Code, and we note with great pleasure that 
some Local Education Authorities have taken the admirable 
course of setting apart money for the provision of dramatic 
performances for school children. Such performances are 
a great privilege, in which remote rural districts are naturally 
unable to share; but for town schools it is a privilege that 
has its dangers as well as its delights. If we could be 
sure that pupils would see performances like the Hamlet of 
Forbes-Robertson, or the Portia of Ellen Terry—if we 
could merely be sure that they would see nothing that dis- 
honored the spirit of Shakespeare, we should urge upon 
teachers the fullest employment of their liberty; but we 
have to recognize frankly that professional performances 
may sometimes be precisely the sort of thing that children 
ought not to see. Boys and girls should never be allowed 
to see the wood-magie of A Midsummer Night’s Dream de- 
stroyed by the protracted clowning of Bottom, or to find 
the flower-sweet loveliness of Twelfth Night sullied by ex- 
travagant orgies of would-be comic drunkenness. Better, 
far, the feebleness and inadequacy of a school performance 
than efficiency of this kind. It would be regrettable if, in 
the exercise of a precious liberty, teachers allowed their 
pupils to get their first acquaintance with Shakespeare on 
the stage from performances in which the sweetness of the 
musi¢ is soured, in which ‘‘time is broke and no proportion 
kept.’’ The power of surrender to first impressions is one 
of the gifts of youth, but there are dangers in it; and 
teachers must therefore recognize their imperative duty of 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 221 


ensuring that a child’s first impressions of Shakespeare 
shall not be misshapen. That does not mean that we must 
approach Shakespeare in an attitude of artificial solemnity. 
Shakespeare must not be made either unnaturally dull or 
unnaturally grotesque. He wrote his plays to give immedi- 
ate pleasure to a miscellaneous audience, and he resented 
liberties with his text. Anything in our treatment that 
makes Shakespeare dull or distorted is a crime against his 
spirit—it is ‘‘from the purpose of playing.’’ 

It was in no inglorious time of our history that English- 
men delighted altogether in dance and song and drama, nor 
were these pleasures the privilege of a few or.a elass. It 
is a legitimate hope that a rational use of the drama in 
schools may bring back to England an unshamed joy in 
pleasures of the imagination and in the purposed expression 
of wholesome and natural feeling. 

Sir Israel Gollanez in his evidence emphasized the im- 
portance of this element of joy in school work, and gave 
some account of his efforts to institute an annual ‘‘Shake- 
speare Day’’ on the 23rd April (unless this fell during the 
Easter holidays) as a bond between English-speaking chil- 
dren in the United Kingdom, the Dominions, and the United 
States of America. We note too with satisfaction that the 
observance of Shakespeare Day has been officially recognized 
in the schools of France. 


Day CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 


a 


Much of what has been said above . .. applies not only 
to Elementary and Secondary, but to the new Day Continua- 
tion Schools. We have... expressed our hope and 
expectation that the reading aloud, recitation, and perform- 
ance of plays will be a very important part of the Eng- 
lish branch of the curriculum in Continuation Schools. We 


222 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


have pointed out that in the limited time available for the 
study of literature in these schools, and in dealing with 
pupils many of whom will have little natural inclination 
for such study, it is essential to gain their interest at once. 
By the very law of its being, a play, written to be acted 
before a miscellaneous audience in the space of two or three 
hours, must make an impression immediately if it is to do 
so at all. Hence it lends itself peculiarly to a scheme of 
education which must always keep one eye on the clock, and 
which aims at being stimulating rather than profound. 

Moreover as a play is intended to be spoken, it offers 
special opportunities to a teacher to combine the training 
of his pupils’ speech, on which we have laid so much stress, 
with their training in literary appreciation. The parts should 
be distributed among the class, and even those who are not 
reading them can often be brought into the circle of active 
interest as members of a crowd or the retainers of a great 
house. 

We are here not without some experience to go upon. 
We have pointed out that the conditions at the Royal Naval 
College, Dartmouth, are akin to those of a first-rate Con- 
tinuation School, as we may hope to see it in the future. 
Mr. Pocock told us that ‘‘for reading aloud the drama was 
particularly valuable, and boys began to read dramatic pieces 
as soon as they entered the College, at about 14. At that 
age boys sometimes read their parts remarkably well, even 
unseen passages.’’ He added that there was a Dramatie 
Society at the College. 

At a Continuation School instituted for its younger em- 
ployees by a great London firm ... it was found that the 
pupils read with zest and appreciation several of the 
eighteenth century comedies. And we may here suggest that 
these and other prose comedies of a later date may, especially 
at first, be more serviceable for use in Continuation Schools 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 223 


than Shakespearian plays. According to the evidence of Pro- 
fessor Mais, of the R. A. F. Cadet College, Cranwell, ‘‘the 
cadets objected to Shakespeare because they found him long- 
winded.’’ They liked Galsworthy’s Strife, Shaw’s Arms 
and the Man, The School for Scandal, The Rivals, and The 
Critic. The Cranwell Cadets are drawn mainly from the 
Public Schools or the Navy and are, of course, considerably 
older than the pupils at Continuation Schools, but it will 
probably be found that their tastes in dramatic literature 
are not dissimilar. 


EvreninG Institutes 


The value of dramatic performances in part time educa- 
tional institutions has already been shown in some of the 
London Evening Institutes, generally under the direction 
of some inspiring teacher of English literature. Professor 
Murray’s version of Iphigenia in Aulis, Stephen Phillips’ 
Paolo and Francesca, Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, 
Roberston’s Caste, the modern morality Eager-Heart, illus- 
trate the variety of the ground covered. 

Nor has Shakespeare been neglected. Admirable perform- 
ances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It 
were given by the girls and women students of a General 
Evening Institute in the west of London. Here, too, pro- 
fessional help in scenery, properties, production, and make-up, 
was dispensed with, and the result was a fresh and charm- 
ing exposition of Shakespearian comedy. The youngest 
actor of this band was sixteen and the oldest over thirty. 

At Institutes where courses on Shakespeare or other 
dramatists are given, classes of adult students accompanied 
by their lecturer have attended performances at public 
theatres of plays that they are studying, or have made a 
pilgrimage to Stratford-on-Avon. Such visits have proved 
their educational value, and should be encouraged. 


224 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


TRAINING COLLEGES 


In... dealing with Training Colleges, we have empha- 
sized the great importance of utilizing every means for the 
improvement of the speech and elocution of the future 
teacher. Much, of course, can be done by the lecturers on 
English, through the medium of debating and literary so- 
cieties, or by phonetic training. But more distinctively 
dramatic methods can also be used with great advantage. 
Some of the London Training Colleges have been active in 
recent years in performing Elizabethan or modern plays, with 
noticeably beneficial effect on the elocution and diction of 
the students. In at least one of these cases the high level 
attained was due to the fact that there is on the staff of 
the College, in addition to the lecturers on English, a lec- 
turer specially appointed to deal with reading and recita- 
tion. As a result of the deputation from the British Drama 
League last year to the President of the Board of Education, 
we understand that proposals are being considered for in- 
troducing dramatic methods more widely into the Training 
College curriculum. This might involve the appointment on 
Training College staffs of lecturers of the type mentioned 
above, who would take in regard to dramatic art the same 
position as is held by teachers of music or pictorial art in 
regard to their special subjects. The effect upon the work 
of the Elementary Schools of teachers trained under these 
lecturers might be very far reaching. 


THe UNIVERSITIES 


The activities of the dramatic societies at Oxford and 
Cambridge are so well known that it is not necessary for us 
to do more than refer to them here. . 

Many of these academic productions have reached a high 
level; they have been recreative in the best sense, and 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 225 


hitherto have had no direct connection with University 
studies. . . . We hope that the University will seriously con- 
sider the possibility of granting a Diploma in Dramatic 
Art, similar to the Diploma in the Humanities, to students 
who have followed an approved course... . 


THE PoPpuLAR DRAMATIC REVIVAL 


We have thought it advisable to confine our attention to 
dramatic activities in the various types of institutions— 
schools, colleges, or universities—dealt with in... this Re- 
port. But the whole tenor and spirit of the Report will, 
we hope, make it evident how warmly we welcome that 
revival of the popular stage which bids fair to restore to 
town and countryside in the twentieth century something 
of the spontaneous theatrical energies of the medieval craft- 
guilds and the Tudor village players. This popular dramatic 
movement is educational in the wider sense of the word... . 


EDUCATION AND THE PROFESSIONAL STAGE 


And if we turn from the popular to the professional stage, 
we recognize the valuable services to national education ren- 
dered by the series of Shakespearian performances at the 
Court Theatre, the Victoria Hall (the ‘‘Old Vic’’), and the 
Stratford-on-Avon Memorial Theatre. 

The work of the Everyman Theatre at Hampstead and 
of the Repertory Theatres at Manchester and Birmingham 
(the former of which has unfortunately had to close) ; the 
Phenix Society productions of Seventeenth-century and 
other classic plays; and the successful revivals of The Beg- 
gar’s Opera and The Knight of the Burning Pestle, all de- 
Serve appreciative record here. And we note with satis- 
faction that Miss Lena Ashwell, who organized a remarkable 
series of theatrical and operatic performances for the troops 


226 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


during the War, is continuing in peace time her efforts to 
popularize good plays. By arrangement with the Mayors 
of some of the London Boroughs a repertory company under 
her direction, the ‘‘Once-a-week Players’’ has given perform- 
ances in various Town Halls. We hope to see this coopera- 
tion between the stage and municipal authorities extended 
to other parts of the country. In promoting such coopera- 
tion the recently founded British Drama League might well 
find one of its most fruitful activities. 


SPEECH TRAINING IN SCHOOL AND ON THE STAGE 


Finally, in relation to Drama as an educational activity, 
we wish to emphasize the need of training in speech and 
in correct reading of which we have had only too much 
evidence. That this need is not confined to school children 
will be obvious to every one who has seen many plays of 
Shakespeare performed, or heard the Bible read in publie. 
Few actors, readers, or speakers seem to have learnt the 
elements of voice production: not many recognize that if 
they speak to five hundred people in a hall or a theatre as 
they would to five in a small room they will be inaudible. 
The actor, in particular, too often sacrifices the chance of 
being heard, without which he is nothing but a spectacle, 
to the delusive hope of appearing natural. But the business 
of art is not to be natural but to seem so. It is not in fact 
natural that Macbeth should talk in blank verse. But when 
Shakespeare chooses he can make it seem quite natural. 
And so an actor when addressing one or more people who 
are quite close to him should be able to seem to speak quite 
naturally while in fact speaking loud enough to be heard 
in the more distant parts of a large house. Few children 
are going to become actors; but all will gain by learning 
how to speak: and no performance can take place in a 
school without showing how many children are at first in- 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 227 


capable of making themselves heard even in a room of mod- 
erate size. 

But the school drama is an opportunity for teaching 
something more than voice production. It is an opportunity 
for showing how prose, and especially verse, should be 
spoken. For both, of course, the most important thing is 
one which cannot be learnt in a lesson: it can only be 
caught by example and sympathy. Perfect reading can only 
be attained through complete intellectual and emotional 
identification with the meaning and mood of the writer. 
This ean rarely be achieved in the schoolroom or indeed 
anywhere else. But it can be begun in school. - And other 
things can be definitely taught. It will probably seldom 
be necessary to point out the absurd results ridiculed by 
Shakespeare (‘‘All for your delight we are not here’’) 
which follow on ignoring the punctuation. But it will be 
very necessary, as every school, and it may be added every 
theatre, shows, to correct the opposite mistake of paying 
attention to nothing else but the stops. Shakespeare wrote 
both verse and prose; and when he wrote verse he did not 
mean to write prose. But if we speak his verse as it is 
often spoken—in this fashion :— 

‘<I cannot but remember such things were that were most 


precious to me.’’ | 
‘¢ Did heaven look on and would not take their part?’’ 


we defeat his object and turn verse into prose. 

This is the first and perhaps the worst mistake that can 
be made in speaking verse. Shakespeare wrote verse for 
its own sake, for the peculiar beauty and music and emo- 
tional power which is different from that of prose. Nothing 
ean be worse than for an actor to throw away this wonder- 
ful weapon which Shakespeare has placed in his hands. 
And it is a weapon for the teacher too: for almost all chil- 
dren naturally love the music of verse. 


228 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


But there is an opposite danger to which children, teach- 
ers, and actors are all alike exposed. The easiest way of 
learning verse is to emphasize violently the real or sup- 
posed accents and to, make them the same in every verse. 
The child is apt to repeat his hymn after this fashion :— 


God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform; 

He plants his footsteps in the sea 
And rides upon the storm. 


... And this method of destroying verse is by no means 
confined to children. Ask any ordinary person to read aloud 
verses from a newspaper or on a tombstone, and you are almost 
sure to get an exhibition of it. And one seldom goes to a 
performance of Shakespeare without hearing his lines ex- 
posed to such ugly and unintelligent delivery as— 


There is a play to-night before the king: 
One scene of it comes near the circumstance 
Which I have told thee of my father’s death: 


said, that is, as if somebody had just asserted that there 
was no play to be played before the King or that a play 
was to be played behind the king: as if Hamlet’s point was 
that it was he and no one else who had told Horatio about 
his father’s death; as if, in fact, the three lines were a 
series of absurd statements. 

The thing of course is still worse when it is Shakespeare’s 
poetry at its highest which is treated in this fashion: ag 
when Antony is made to ask pardon for himself in contrast 
to some one else for whom pardon is not asked: to assert 
that, in contrast with some one else who is the opposite, he 
himself is meek and gentle; and to contradict some assertion 
that Cesar’s body was not ‘‘the ruins of the noblest man:”’ 


THE DRAMA AS AN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY 229 


O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 

That J am meek and gentle with these butchers! 
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man 

That ever lived in the tide of times. 


The faults of manhood often begin in the schoolroom. 
This one certainly does. It appears to be little recognized 
as a fault either in or out of the schoolroom. Yet if English 
literature, and in particular English poetry, is to play the 
part which it ought to play both in our national education 
and our national life, it must be given its fair chance. And 
this is not given unless care is taken in reading aloud or 
recitation to preserve as much as possible both of the poet’s 
music and of his meaning. Perfect saying of verse will 
always be a rare thing. But it has seemed to us that it 
might be worth while to point out here some of the com- 
monest and most obvious faults that bar the way to it. 
There will be no better opportunity for correcting them 
than the play read or performed in class. This, follow- 
ing on some instruction in the elements of phonetics and 
of voice production, ought to do much to raise the whole 
level of reading and speaking both of prose and verse. 
The rendering of literature by the voice is not a mere matter 
of mechanical correctness, but is the final result of sympa- 
thetic entry into the spirit of the writer, and without it 
no education in letters can be complete. 


DRAMATICS AND SPEECH TRAINING 


A. M. DRUMMOND 
Cornell University 


In the first place we should be sure that school plays are not 
examples of low standards which it is nowadays the fashion 
to attribute only to Broadway. For every sincere and honest 
production is there one tawdry and artificial? For every fine 
play presented to the community is there one of third or 
fourth rate? For every pupil who is the better for participa- 
tion in dramatics is there one spoiled? For every school play 
coached by a director of adequate training, is there one 
coached by a teacher confessing no training at all? For 
every administrator demanding trained directors and artistie 
productions, is there not one insistent only on having plays, 
and on ‘‘having plays that pay?’’ Is the public taste of the 
community being elevated or catered to? These are questions 
for frank consideration before turning school dramatics into 
formal entertainments for the public. 

Directors of educational dramatics should obey these general 
principles: Choose a good play and don’t spoil it. Improve 
if possible those who are engaged in the presentation of the 
play, but at least be on the safe side and spoil no one. 

As a teacher of oral English or speaking the director of 
dramaties is primarily concerned with developing the powers 
of expression of the individual pupil. 

If sound principles are steadily adhered to, dramaties offers 
as good an opportunity as any to learn that ‘‘resistant flexi- 
bility is the soul of elocution ;’’ that speech is a relatively con- 

230 


DRAMATICS AND SPEECH TRAINING 231 


tinuous, modulated flow of sound, not a mechanical affair of 
‘spell and syllabicate’’; that words, phrases, and speech 
sounds are ideas as well as sounds; that from its very nature 
speech must deal with thought and emotion as well as with 
the “‘mechanies of speech’’; that vowels will not take care 
of themselves if the consonants are cared for; that pronuncia- 
tion is both ‘‘weak’’ and “‘strong,’’ with relatively wide 
variations according to the meaning. On the same conditions, 
that sound principles be steadily adhered to, dramaties offers 
as good an opportunity as any other to learn also that neither 
speed nor noise is energy; that volume gives neither force 
nor intensity; that great range is only relatively necessary 
to great variety; that pronunciation and inflection are ac- 
tually of relatively little importance in communicating 
thought content; that overprecise speech is as defective as 
slovenly speech; that ‘‘correct’’ pronunciation is a form of 
manners and usage, differing with time, place, and the conven- 
tions of a special group; that people not having actual defects 
of speech are to be educated rather than ‘‘corrected’’; that 
speaking must always be judged in relation to the meaning 
communicated to the hearer or hearers;—and even to learn 
that so much harm may be done by conscientious teachers 
who are too sure they know what is right that time and labor 
may never repair the damage. 


OBJECTIVES IN ScHooL DRAMATICS 


The general objective of dramatics in a program of speech 
training—the development of the individual faculty of ex- 
pression—may be analyzed into three broad divisions: (1) an 
assimilation of the thought and feeling of another which 
makes it so completely our own that we are ready for a re- 
ereated expression which is natural and springs from our- 
selves; (2) a development of the physical expression of 
thought and emotion which appeals to the eye; (3) the 


232 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


cultivation of vocal expression which communicates thought, 
emotion, and sense values to the ear through speech. So 
far as these can be considered as separate from one an- 
other each is a worthy study in itself. The necessarily 
complex unification demanded by dramatic expression makes 
this an unsurpassed opportunity for training in synthesiz- 
ing thought, imagination, feeling, and physical and vocal 
expression into that unity of life of which drama itself is 
an imitation. 

These objectives are most likely to be attained in regularly 
organized courses having a content worthy of and receiv- 
ing credit on the same basis as other recognized scholastic 
subjects. And courses with such objectives are the surest 
means to intelligent and artistic public production. 

Staging, costuming, lighting, and stage decoration are not 
speech training. They are always desirable and often nec- 
essary for satisfactory theatrical effects. But the fascina- 
tion of stagecraft should never divert the attention of the 
director of educational dramaties from his prime objective, 
which is to train the interpretative and expressive faculties 
of the individual through the adequate expression by voice 
and action of the dramatic values of significant plays of 
literary merit. The director of dramatics as oral English 
or speech training must therefore be sufficiently master of 
stagecraft to obtain necessary theatrical effects without en- 
croaching on the time and energy demanded for the train- 
ing of the individual in effective oral expression. 

The director’s mastery of the technique of stage direction 
should be such as to enable him quickly and easily to handle 
the cast as a whole, to prearrange the necessary eroupings 
and tableaux, and to drill the cast in these and in the pro- 
jection of the exposition, plot, and dramatic emphasis of the 
whole play. Only considerable skill in directing will save 
him time for the individual work which is his chief duty. 


DRAMATICS AND SPEECH TRAINING 233 


SECURING GREATEST INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT 


The general objectives of the procedure in dramatics here 
suggested are entirely consistent with detailed and technical 
exercises in action, pantomime, gesture, pronunciation, read- 
ing, and voice. These objectives are also consistent with, 
and demand drill in grouping, tableaux, teamwork, and the 
direction of the play as a whole as distinguished from coach- 
ing or training individuals. 

In many ways these ends are most effectively and eco- 
nomically attained by beginning with such a detailed scheme 
of stage movement, business, and structural emphasis that the 
play reaches as quickly as possible the ‘‘fluid’’ state where 
it can be coached as a whole, or where individual actors can 
have running coaching while the whole rehearsal proceeds. 


THE STANDARDS oF ACTING AND READING 


As an instrument for developing better speaking, dramatics 
must emphasize naturalness, not ‘‘staginess.’’ Good acting 
is based not only on natural, communicative, and effectively 
correct expression more or less abstractly conceived, but 
always also on the natural expression and speech of the 
individual. Even if one believes in ‘‘staginess’’ for the pro- 
fessional, nothing could be less defensible as a standard for 
acting and speaking in an educational theatre serving pri- 
marily as a means of speech training for those having no 
intention of becoming professional actors. Indeed the di- 
rector who can capture, even for his classroom, one-half the 
vivacity, verve, and effectiveness of speech and action which 
his cast will freely and naturally exhibit while chatting 
in an interval of rehearsal has accomplished wonders. 

Perhaps no form of speech training so immediately and so 
obviously involves a use of all the faculties of expression 
as does dramatics. Poise, response, and control of the body 


234 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


are fundamental. The situations are close to, utilize, and 
build on, reali life. Movement, gesture, and lines must flow 
consonant with meaning. Studies of characteristic, as well 
as neutral, pose; of gestures of the body, hands, and face; 
of the value of movement for attention, are imperative. The 
necessary criticism which keeps expression constantly re- 
lated to right impression on the audience, keeps the subjec- 
tive always related to the objective. Constant repetition of 
correct patterns of movement establishes habits of normal- 
ity and effectiveness. Once established, correct normal habits 
free the body for the impulses of imagination and inspira- 
tion. Intelligent repetition constantly raises the level of 
habitual correctness and progressively gives the individual 
greater release from constriction and inhibition. Under- 
standing and insight are the bases of expression, but they 
grow with physically free expression and are deepened by it. 


APPROACHES TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PLAY 


The actor must be able to conceive and interpret the play 
and the part as the dramatist intends them to be interpreted. 
A complete imaginative grasp of the character to be por- 
trayed is basic to the study of the forms of expression which 
is to reveal and project such an understanding. But under- 
standing comes from physical and vocal expression as well 
as from ‘‘literary’’ study. The profuse stage directions of 
the modern play, for example, furnish a large number of 
suggestions for physical action, for meaning, for tone, for 
tempo and rhythm which must be carefully followed if the 
writer’s meaning is to be understood. The ‘‘printed page’’ 
of the play is the full printed page, for in the too often 
ignored stage directions the dramatist has indicated sug- 
gestions for interpretation which he could hardly explain 
otherwise. Yet the outline of movement and action ex- 
plicitly elaborated by the dramatist in his stage directions 


DRAMATICS AND SPEECH TRAINING 235 


and implied in his lines is at best sketchy. This skeleton 
must be fleshed and clothed by imaginatively conceived de- 
tails of movement, gesture, and expression. 

The selective process which art involves must be remem- 
bered. The play is a selection from the hundred incidents 
and movements and speeches which might have been in- 
cluded. The presentation of these selected materials in- 
volves a selection of those significant natural forms of expres- 
sion which will complete only the impression intended. The 
expression must not be perverted by expression unnecessary 
to the effect, however natural it might be to the player or 
to the character in real life. The movements and actions 
recorded by the dramatist or implied in the lines will often 
be more effective in communicating meaning to the player 
than the lengthiest verbal explanations. 

The director is the controlling interpreter of the play. 
The player should grasp the interpretation of the director as 
well as the meaning of the dramatist. It is primarily his 
success in this that stamps the actor as competent in his 
business. Good work depends upon sympathetic understand- 
ing and communication between director and player. 


VOICE 


The actor’s voice is his chief instrument, and dramatics, 
like any other form of practice in speaking, is an admirable 
opportunity for informal voice training of the best kind. 
Voices may be ruined by straining them for public perform- 
ances in large auditoriums. For such public performances 
choose those with adequate natural voices. On the other 
hand, to limit participation in dramatics to those adolescents 
whose natural voices will easily fill a theatre seating 2,000 
to 3,000 would be criminal. Relatively small-scale work in 
small auditoriums requiring no real effort for the average 
voice is the sound educational standard. And for the most 


236 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


part a conveniently arranged classroom or parlor will be 
sufficient auditorium for a teacher to offer her class the 
benefits of dramatics, if not the plaudits. 


READING THE LINES 


Of the reading of lines or vocal expression, we can of 
course say little here save to emphasize its essential char- 
acter aS an aspect of thought and feeling, and its unity 
with physical expression. A word is as much thought as 
sound. The value, or even the correctness, of isolated single 
sounds of speech cannot be estimated save in relation to 
thought or meaning expressed by them. Sound is no more 
a constant in speech than is meaning. The sounds of speech 
cannot be isolated from the thought content. Language 
includes patterns of thought, of physical and verbal expres- 
sion. This unity is always present and must be enriched 
as a whole, however detailed and technical may be the ex-. 
ercises sometimes wisely devised to develop one faculty of 
expression somewhat independently of the others. Common 
sense, Judgment, and taste are better than any system. 


PRONUNCIATION 


The study of dialect and some understanding of its place 
in life, and thus of its effectiveness in literature and drama, 
is important culturally. Pedagogiecally it is also important, 
for it develops something of that bilingual faculty so im- 
portant in improving pronunciation by education of the ear 
and of the speech agents. Pronunciation is a form of man- 
ners. At best the attaining of relative ‘‘correctness’’ removes 
from pronunciation marked localisms. It is worth laborious 
effort to approximate standard pronunciation, intonation, 
accent, and tone. It is worth more to remove obvious errors 
and ibecues The two attempts go hand in hand. 


DRAMATICS AND SPEECH TRAINING 237 


A PROGRAM FOR VARIETY OF EXPERIENCE 


In the course of his speech training the pupil-actor should 
not be primarily concerned with how to play a single part 
in a single play. He should attempt to increase his powers 
of interpretation by studying, experiencing, and presenting 
as many different situations, characters, and modes of action 
and speech as possible. He should therefore have a chance 
at tragedy, drama, high-comedy, comedy of manners, farce— 
even melodrama. A reasonably complete program should 
vive him at least a glimpse of Greek or Roman drama, of 
Shakespeare, of Sheridan or Goldsmith, of the nineteenth- 
century romantic play, of modern realism, and of the con- 
temporary stage. He should attempt to conquer blank verse 
and a variety of prose dialogue styles, including certainly 
much of that dialogue which seeks to produce the tang of 
casual speech—F rom Better Speech Year, National Council 
Teachers of English, Chicago, 1924. 


SOME PRINCIPLES OF PLAY DIRECTING 


CLARENCE STRATTON 
Director of English in High Schools, Cleveland 


The director of school plays must first of all discriminate 
very carefully between educational dramatics and production 
dramatics. Educational dramatics exist for the primary 
purpose of developing the powers of self-expression or the 
powers of dramatic interpretation of pupils. They are 
purely educational in purpose. They do not exist for a 
scheduled performance; they may never even develop into 
performances—they exist solely for the benefit of the per- 
formers. They may never reach a state of finish which 
justifies appearance before an audience. They may never 
pass beyond the stage of rehearsals. 

Production dramatics, on the other hand, exist primarily 
for the performance of a play before an audience. Educa- 
tion, self-expression, and self-development are entirely sec- 
ondary and subsidiary concomitants. These benefits are not 
sought; for some of the performers they may not exist. 
Production dramaties should be judged entirely by the sue- 
cess of the performance. 

For educational dramatics, casts should be chosen for the 
educational value that each role will exert upon its per- 
former. Correspondence of disposition, appearance, tempera- 
ment, may be the reason for selecting a pupil to enact a 
role; but quite as frequently the exact Opposite may be 
the principle underlying the choice of a performer. The 
naturally born and usually developed leader among the 
pupils may be given a minor réle or a role in which traits 

238 


SOME PRINCIPLES OF PLAY DIRECTING 239 


of quietness, self-suppression, modesty, or weakness are to 
be delineated. The vivacious, noisy girl may be assigned 
the quiet role of a servant, an invalid, a restrained aunt, 
or a delicate old woman. The modest, retiring, quiet boy 
may be asked to play the swashbuckling hero or the forceful 
strike leader. The slangy girl may be asked to sink her 
blatant vociferousness in the réle of a refined mother. The 
rowdy with the most squalid environment may be asked to 
play a gentleman of the old school. The significance of 
such casting is perfectly obvious. Its justification comes 
not in the effect of any performance, but in the change for 
good wrought in the characters, dispositions, and actions of 
individual pupils. 

Such dramatic training is intimately connected with all 
the other educational processes of the curriculum. 

That pupils may have means for comparison of their own 
work, you should frequently use duplicate casts so that two 
interpretations and two kinds of personal development may 
be observed and studied. 

Show several of your pupils how to direct plays. Put sev- 
eral plays under the direction of the pupils. Begin with 
the best and most adaptable persons in the class. Later have 
some of the less gifted pupils direct at least several rehearsals, 
perhaps even the entire work with a short play. 

Judge all the results of educational dramatics not by in- 
dividual ability at the beginning of the work, nor by in- 
dividual ability at the end of the term or year, but by the 
extent of the improvement between the ability of the pupil 
at the beginning and the ability of that same pupil at the 
end. 

If educational dramatics develop naturally and easily into 
production dramatics so much the better. The transforma- 
tion should not be forced. 

For production dramatics the purpose and method of di- 


240 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


recting are entirely different from those used in educa- 
tional dramatics. The success of production dramatics is 
judged entirely by the performance given before an audi- 
ence. Hvery detail in choosing the play, casting the parts, 
and directing rehearsals is contributary to this single end 
and aim—the production of a play for the benefit of an audi- 
ence. Notice that this aim, in virtually everything it in- 
cludes and implies, is almost the exact opposite of the end 
of educational dramatics. Frequently a director who se- 
cures remarkable results in educational dramaties fails of 
equivalent results in production dramatics. The opposite 
is likely to occur just as frequently. The best director is 
that person who can so choose his ends and adapt his methods 
to the realization of those ends that he is equally successful 
in both forms of dramatic activities in schools. 

For production dramatics the best method for choosing the 
cast 18 the method of tryouts. Have the candidates show 
their fitness for definite rdles by delineating similar ones. 
If the device will not destroy some of the novelty and in- 
terest of the play to be performed, have candidates try for 
parts in this play. The chief drawback to following this 
method is the amount of time it consumes, but it is the fair- 
est for all persons concerned. 


You will have to decide just what plans you will follow in 


such circumstances as the following. <A boy is not especially 
fitted for performing the réle for which he tries. He is, 
however, unquestionably the best suited for another réle 
for which there are candidates. You as director must then 
decide whether you will cast the boy for the réle for which 
he made no effort, or award the réle to the best candidate 
who tried for it, even though this latter will not act it so 
well as the former. Your selection must often be a compro- 
mise between effort and promise of success. 

In many casts you may find that to save time and effort 


| 


SOME PRINCIPLES OF PLAY DIRECTING 241 


for the greatest number of persons you will have to select 
definite persons to perform certain réles. In such a pro- 
cedure do not hesitate to rectify mistakes after rehearsals 
have begun. Individuals may not justify your first impres- 
sion of reason and judgment. Keeping in mind continually 
that the performance is the only test of your directing, make 
changes as early in the period of rehearsing as is possible. 
In fact, in whatever method you use for casting a play, 
make it perfectly plain to the performers that they are con- 
tinually on probation, that they may be removed at any 
time since only one consideration enters into the procedure 
—the success of the performance. During rehearsals, inter- 
change actors. It is usually better to redistribute parts 
than to discard actors entirely. 

Your directing should begin long before you choose your 
cast. As soon as the play has been selected you should 
begin to prepare the text. Know the play, the ability of 
your performers, and the audience so well that you ean 
unhesitatingly and unerringly make those adaptations which 
are absolutely necessary. If you are using a modern drama, 
the author will very likely have given you a great deal of 
information concerning interpretation. If you are using 
earlier plays, you will very likely have to supply almost 
the entire amount of stage action and business. 

Make your cuts before you begin the first rehearsal. It 
is not fair to ask the actors to memorize and repeat lines 
which will later be deleted. Amateur performances should 
not last more than two hours and a quarter. Two hours is 
a better length. The endurance of pupils and the tolerance 
of the audience should not be stretched beyond the break- 
ing point. Remember that pupils cannot deliver lines nor 
engage in stage action with the celerity and briskness of 
professionals. Even in one-act plays you may find it neces- 
sary to make cuts. 


242 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Omit profanity or substitute for it milder expressions 
which for school production serve the purpose quite as well. 

Reduce the number of embraces, kisses, ete., which, since 
most plays are written with an adult stage in prospect, 
are hardly suitable for presentation by growing boys and 
girls. If you find even in an edition of school plays such 
stage directions as the following: making a hasty swoop at 
her lips; embracing her with intense emotion; with a little 
sigh, gathers her into his arms; motionless in a long-drawn 
embrace—do not choose these plays for performance, or if 
you do, modify the action. 

At the same time you are making these changes in the text, 
you should make specifications for scenery, lists of properties, 
and plots for lighting. As director you should not postpone 
these very important matters until after the play has been 
put into rehearsal, even though you may add to them or de- 
duct from them during the period of rehearsals. 

Virtually no school director follows implicitly every stage 
direction provided by the author of a play. Every director 
must add details of action and bits of business for his own 
performance. In the text he must indicate stage directions, 
movements up and down stage, pauses, sittings down, and 
gettings up. Just when you should decide upon all these 
details and when you should mark them in a text of the 
play will depend upon which one of the two regular methods 
you decide to follow. You may decide to indicate in the 
text merely the general outlines of the action, waiting until 
you see the actual persons moving before you in rehearsal 
to decide upon details of action. This procedure makes the 
actors your living collaborators in developing the action. 
If you use this method you should tell your actors that you 
are likely to change your directions to them. Ask them 
not to inform you, when you give a new direction, that you 
told them differently at the preceding rehearsal; announce 


SOME PRINCIPLES OF PLAY DIRECTING 243 


to them that you will very likely know that quite as well 
as they, but that you are changing it because you now 
have something better. You should not continue these addi- 
tions and changes too long into the rehearsal period. Hav- 
ing worked out with your cast the method of acting, you 
should stabilize it as early as possible in order that the 
actors can repeat it for you until they become convincing 
in. it. 

If you follow the second method of preparing for be- 
ginning rehearsals, you will work out in your mind’s eye 
or upon a stage design or model all the action which you 
intend to incorporate. You will indicate all of this in your 
text of the play. In the early rehearsals, perhaps even the 
first, you will transmit all this information to the actors 
and have them add it to their copies of the play. So far 
as you are able, you will anticipate every possibility, choose 
the most effective, write it in your play, and begin at once 
to train the performers in the execution of it. 

Every performer should be familiar with the entire play. 

Rehearse one-act plays entire. Show the performers what 
the rise of interest is and direct them to produce this rise 
for the audience. Beware of repeating the play so fre- 
quently in rehearsal that it becomes a bore. Notice care- 
fully whether your performers are becoming ‘‘stale.”’ 
Avoid too continuous insistence in the attempt to obtain a 
certain effect. If the performers become strained, let the 
play for the time being be turned into farce with laughter, 
but be careful that the next rehearsal gives it exactly the 
spirit in which you wish the play to. be performed. Allow 
about three weeks for the production of a one-act play. 

Allow about seven weeks for the production of a full- 
length play. Rehearse each act separately. For a three- 
act play, allot about two weeks and a half to the first act, 
two weeks to the second, two to the third; the remaining 


244 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


time will be needed for combinations of acts, rehearsals with 
scenery, lighting, and costumes. 

Give the greatest amount of time to the first act. Pupils, 
in addition to memorizing lines and working up business, 
require an interval for taking on the characters of the réles. 
Have three rehearsals a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Fri- 
day. This schedule allows intervals for committing the lines 
to memory and thinking about the persons. During the re- 
hearsals of the first act, you will have to show the pupils 
many things about the characters which they will be able 
to carry into the acting of the later sections. Virtually 
all details of characterization should be mastered before the 
later acts are put into rehearsal. 

Make your first act arouse the interest of the audience. 
Make it impress the audience as soon as possible. Because 
the first lines of any play are likely to be difficult, be assured 
that they will be delivered correctly and effectively. Con- 
sider opening the play upon a quiet stage or with a scene 
in which there are no lines spoken. If the playwright has 
not provided the opening which lets the audience look be- 
fore it has to listen, devise it yourself. Determine upon 
the line with which the first effect (say of humor) is to be 
made upon the audience. Show your performers that you 
are working to secure a response from that line. Determine 
where you should expect your first, laugh. 

Rehearse middle acts so that they will rise in interest 
and effect above the first. Beware of letting your pupil 
actors exhaust all their ability, tricks, devices, and effects 
too early in the play. Strive for intensity, suspense, and 
complication in your middle acts. Obtain a series of ‘*step- 
ups.’ 

Determine in your own mind, then indicate to your cast 
exactly what the emotional waves are in the successive acts. 
Show them how units begin, rise, create suspense, or come 


SOME PRINCIPLES OF PLAY DIRECTING 245 


to a halt. Consider for every unit of acting a tempo, a 
motion, an emotion, a stress, a strain, a rise, a height, a 
culmination, a suspense, a relief, a contrast, and a cadence. 

Begin to rehearse your last act as early as possible before 
the day of performance. Allow sufficient time for rehearsing 
it to the degree of finish already obtained for the earlier 
acts. During the final rehearsals avoid the error of crowd- 
ing your pupil actors with memorizing lines, mastering new 
business, attending extra rehearsals, getting and wearing 
costumes, working with properties, and becoming accustomed 
to scenery. Have the last act well enough mastered to per- 
mit rehearsals with it of earlier acts. During the last two 
weeks hold rehearsals every afternoon with such combina- 
tions as Acts I and II, Acts II and III, Acts I and III, 
Act III twice, and on Friday, the whole play. 

During early rehearsals, after you have given general 
directions, interrupt frequently. Correct a mistaken intona- 
tion or an awkward movement before it becomes part of 
the actor’s habitual performance. Painstaking care then 
will save a great deal of energy and time later. As re- 
hearsals progress, direct as the conductor of an orchestra. 
Give continual directions without interrupting. You can 
warn an actor to speak more slowly; you can urge another 
to grow more enthusasistic; from another you can draw more 
intensity ; you can lead another into evenness. You can ac- 
celerate or retard the tempo of a scene. You can quiet a 
group. You can lengthen a pause. You can induce grace. 
You can evoke a sudden change in disposition. This method 
of emphasizing, as distinct from exaggeration, should be 
induced as early as possible into the rehearsals. It may be 
termed the shading in a performance. 

Remember that amateur actors usually fail in concluding 
acts. They have not the versatile acting ability to present a 
long play easily. Inject freshness and vigor into the last 


246 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


act. Reserve for it several devices of good acting in order 
that monotony may be avoided. Induce if possible changes 
of costume or setting to interest the audience and go relieve 
the strain upon the cast. Take advantage of modern stage- 
craft, with its novelties of lighting, color, and decoration. 

Consider the following devices for Saving time and energy 
in rehearsals. Plan groups and combinations so that per- 
formers are not kept waiting about too long with nothing 
to do. Rehearse overconscious performers privately, es- 
pecially in love scenes, sentimental passages, and tense mo- 
ments, until they are sure enough of their parts to impress 
members of the cast who are not involved in these scenes. 

Be sure to have your play ready in every acting detail at 
least a week before the scheduled performance. During the 
last days, rehearse for shading, but give your most dis- 
criminating attention to costumes, make-up, scenery, light- 
ing, and properties. 

Train your actors not to need a prompter. At the dress 
rehearsal, conduct every detail as though at a performance. 
When you have given the order for the curtain to begin the 
first act, go into the auditorium and watch the play from 
the front, returning to the stage if necessary only to give 
the signal for the curtain. Do this same thing at the per- 
formance. This will have an almost incalculable effect upon 
your own method of directing and upon the confidence it 
Inspires in the school in your ability to achieve finished 
performances. 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION AND 
GESTURE 


JOSEPH SEARLE GAYLORD 


Northwestern University 


The term action is here used to denote all activities of 
the body that occur when one is speaking or preparing to 
speak, so far as these activities influence the speaking; the 
term gesture to denote those observable activities of the 
speaker’s body, especially of his arms and hands, that in- 
fluence the audience as it listens to him. Action is often 
used in a narrower, and gesture in a broader, sense than the 
meanings just given to them. The broader meaning of action 
is to be preferred in a study of the fundamentals of speech. 
The treatment of and training in gesture as a technical 
form of action should be reserved for advanced courses. 
Beginners, especially, should confine their consciousness of 
action to their preparation, permitting their action to be 
spontaneous when communicating with others. 

Action includes such things as position of the body, pos- 
ture, bearing, gesture, and facial expression. Or, stated in 
another way, it includes positions and movements of the 
legs and feet, of the trunk, of the arms and hands, of the 
head, and of the face. From a third point of view action 
consists of activities of voluntary muscles, of involuntary 
muscles, and of glands. Furthermore, action may be auto- 
matic, instinctive, impulsive, imitative, voluntary, habitual, 
or deliverative. 

247 


248 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Some of the characteristics of well-developed action are 
repose, balance, poise, uplift, freedom, ease, and spontane- 
ity. These may be treated ag aims of speech training or as 
tests of efficiency. 


Tue Functions or ACTION 


The functions of action are as follows: 


1. It makes mental action clearer and more intense : 

2. It helps to create confidence both in the speaker and in 
the audience; 

3. It aids in communicating thought and emotion ; 

4. It assists in developing the whole personality of the 
speaker ; 

d. It preserves the health of the speaker. 


1. The service of action in stimulating one’s thinking and 
in intensifying his emotions and feelings has been empha- 
sized in recent studies in psychology and education. What 
one learns with considerable bodily action is remembered 
better than that which is learned with little activity of the 
body. Interest in what is being learned is noticeably in- 
creased by an increase in bodily action while learning. 
There is a limit beyond which this rule does not hold, since 
an increase in bodily action beyond a certain point does 
not carry with it any increase in interest. This turning 
point is higher than most persons are likely to reach under 
ordinary circumstances. Students will very rarely make 
more physical preparation for speaking than is advisable 
for effective delivery, provided the movements are adapted 
to their thoughts and feelings. 

Pictures and emotions especially need plenty of action to 
make them complete and effective. A rough sketch in the air 
may be sufficient for a general idea, but a clear and detailed 
picture or a stirring emotion calls for many well-controlled 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION AND GESTURE 249 


movements, in order both that the speaker may adequately 
realize his thought and that the audience may be impressed 
by it. 

2. Appropriate action contributes to the speaker’s con- 
fidence in himself and in his audience, and to the confidence 
of the audience in the speaker. Without such confidence the 
speech is seriously handicapped. A distrustful speaker can- 
not do his best; a doubtful audience takes everything with 
a grain of salt. Overconfidence, if. it be not vanity, is less 
objectionable than lack of confidence. 

Just how action awakens self-confidence is not known. 
But we all know the feeling of power and self-reliance that 
comes after we have done a really hard piece of work which 
required strenuous muscular exertion. The feeling of hav- 
ing succeeded once gives confidence for the future. It is 
less important for students of speech to know how action 
brings confidence than to assume that it does and to seek 
rationally to develop physical freedom and action to that 
end. ‘Too much emphasis on action for the purpose of con- 
fidence merely would be unfortunate, because confidence is 
only one of the purposes of action. Some speakers develop 
peculiar and striking forms of action to attract the atten- 
tion of the audience and to win its confidence, and use them 
effectively, but their example is hardly one to be followed. 

3. Besides preparing the speaker for effective utterance, 
action also prepares the audience to receive what he Says 
and to give him at least a fair, if not a sympathetic, hearing. 

The confidence that comes from the speaker’s action pre- 
cedes that which comes from what he says. Posture, bear- 
ing, and facial expression make their appeal to the audience 
before the speaker has pronounced a dozen words. As he 
continues to talk the content of his speech increases or 
decreases this confidence. We have here really two types of 
confidence, one of which is mainly personal, the other more 


250 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


intellectual. Some of the reasons why action prepares the 
audience are: (1) that the audience sees what the speaker 
does quicker than it hears what he says, (2) that it re- 
sponds more readily to what it sees than to what it hears, 
and (3) that it grasps the meaning of what it sees more 
surely than the meaning of what it hears. Consequently, 
when the speaker’s action is suitable, it prepares the audi- 
ence in a favorable way for what he has to say. 

Actionless speaking is apt to fall on deaf ears, while 
speaking with free, spontaneous action is infectious to the 
whole person of the hearer. When the speech is delivered 
with free, appropriate action, it tends to hold the listeners; 
they find it recurring to them again and again without any 
effort on their part; it has become, in a sense, a part of 
their own natures. 

4. If the services that action renders in relation to health, 
to thought, to confidence, and to the audience were all passed 
over, it would still claim an important place in speech train- 
ing because of its contribution to the personal development 
both of the speaker and of auditor. It is so easy for con- 
versation, or discussion, or public speaking to scratch the 
surface merely. Anything that will make speaking plow 
deeper into human nature is to be encouraged. Action helps 
do this. When any thought or emotion impresses a per- 
son with its importance, his whole physical being is pro- 
foundly affected. And it is largely through the responsive- 
ness of his whole physical self that it is possible for him 
to share his deeper meanings with others. 

Some of the results of speaking with a generous supply 
of action are sincerity, earnestness, enthusiasm, and whole- 
heartedness. And such personal traits as these are not un- 
worthy by-products of speech training, but rather elements 
of the real goal of education in speech. Training for effec- 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION AND GESTURE 251 


tive expression is not the whole of speech education. It 
cannot ignore its share of responsibility for the development 
of the whole man. 

5. Speaking, when its action is appropriate, is a health- 
exercise. Its hygienic value is greatest when the action is 
motivated, free, and adequate. Speaking, accompanied by 
inappropriate and restricted action, is almost sure to estab- 
lish bad speech habits. A speaker who speaks with free 
and expressive action feels better after speaking than before, 
and every time he speaks gains in health. 

Some of the physical results of good speaking are: faster 
beating of the heart, more rapid and deeper breathing, 
inereased circulation of the blood, enlarged blood vessels, 
and higher temperature of the whole body. These are the 
well-known effects of all good physical exercises. 

But action is not the most important factor in good speak- 
ing, although without it speech is incomplete and imperfect. 
Action is like the background in painting or the rhythm in 
music. It lays a foundation for the other processes to build 
upon. The whole structure is a great deal more than the 
foundation, but without a solid foundation the building is 
defective and may even be unsafe. 


Tur DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION 


Work for the development of action and gestures should 
be planned according to the following principles: 

Action, as a part of speech, has its origin in the funda- 
mental responses of the body to things and to persons. 
When a material thing is perceived, certain bodily processes 
occur, such as adjusting the sense organs, approaching, 
pointing, grasping, handling, and manipulating. When a 
person is met and recognized, some of the movements are 
reaching toward, approaching, touching, and smiling. 


252 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


These same movements, when made in response to re- 
membered or imagined objects, become expressive, that is, 
they show what is in the mind of the one who makes them. 
The expressive movements and the mental images, occurring 
at the same time, become so associated that ever afterward 
each calls up the other. 

Expressive movements become, through practice, more and 
more condensed and typical, that is, they become communi- 
cative. Instead of expressing the original experience di- 
rectly, as they have been doing, they now suggest the ex- 
perience by expressing either a part of it or something which 
is closely associated with it. 

Speaking usually includes activities that belong to each 
of these three stages of development. To become efficient 
in the use of spontaneous action in delivery, requires, in 
preparation, careful and thorough training (1) in funda- 
mental responses, (2) in expressive movements, and (3) in 
communicative actions. 


Cultwating Action. 


The technique of learning to make adequate and efficient 
bodily movements when speaking may be sketched as follows: 

1. Respond freely and spontaneously to the material things 
in your environment and notice what your body does. For 
example, notice what you do when you pick up a book, 
open it, read a few sentences, close the book, and lay it 
down again. Note the adjustment of your sense organs, and 
the positions and movements of your whole body and of 
each part. As you respond to each object, use your voice in 
some very simple way, such as counting, saying the vowels, 
repeating the alphabet, or better, express aloud ideas rela- 
tive to the situation. 

This practice should give facility in responding to things 
and knowledge of some of the fundamental human reactions. 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION AND GESTURE 253 


It should also make voice and mind more responsive to 
action. 

2. Reeall the objects to which you have responded and 
what you did when you perceived them. Respond now to 
your memory images of these objects by making movements 
very similar to those you made when the objects were pres- 
ent. Say something as you recall and respond. You may 
vocalize as in No. 1, or you may express orally and in a 
very general way what is most prominent in your mind 
moment by moment. 

If in preparation, fundamental, expressive, and communi- 
cative forms of action have been freely developed, and if 
this action has been practised always simultaneously with 
the expression of corresponding ideas, then the mental 
activity of speaking will furnish spontaneously appropriate 
and meaningful action and gesture. 

3. Take some sentence that contains words that name 
and describe some material things. Prepare your action 
according to functions 1, 2, 3, and 4, stated above, then 
give the sentence orally, putting in the action for each object 
and characteristic just before speaking the corresponding 
words. After this last has been done a Tew times, give 
the sentence with your mind on the meaning, without dictat- 
ing what your action shall be or whether there shall be 
any. Any action that comes under these circumstances will 
be spontaneous and appropriate. 

Repetition of the sentence with emphasis on what it means 
will gradually adjust the action more and more satisfactorily 
to the meaning, without interfering with its spontaneity. 


Application to Interpretation of Specific Selections. 


After a selection has been read once or twice quietly and 
silently, read it orally, making such movements of the body 
as indicate, depict, portray, and suggest the pictures, feel- 


294 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPHAKING 


ings, and ideas contained in the selection and in your men- 
tal responses to it. Say the words with a minimum of vocal 
activity. When this has been done a few times, read the 
selection aloud with your mind on the meaning of the mes- 
sage, on your audience (real or imaginary), and on your 
purpose in reading, allowing your action to be spontaneous. 

A beginner may wisely use action more or less consciously 
in building up the meanings of a selection, but when he 
interprets the selection for others his action should be spon- 
taneous. This does not mean that the action used in 
preparation should become habitual. Spontaneous action and 
gesture are not the same as habitual action and gesture. 
The latter are always the same for the same words, the 
former change with the changing environment, mood, mean- 
ing, audience, and occasion, although the words remain the 
same. 


Action and Public Speaking. 


One significant, though perhaps not commonly accepted, 
theory is: in preparing to read orally the words should pre- 
cede the action, in preparing to speak extemporaneously the 
action should precede the words. In the former the mean- 
ing comes from the action suggested by the words, in the 
latter the action comes from the meanings suggested by 
the association of ideas. The fact that it is possible to have 
merely verbal associations in speaking does not warrant the 
use of them to any large extent. 

In preparing to speak convert your mental pictures, feel- 
ings, and ideas as they appear in your stream of conscious- 
ness into more or less conscious action. Then translate your 
pictures, feelings, and ideas, and their corresponding actions 
into spoken language. Continue your preparation by trans- 
lating meanings into actions and words, and words into 
actions and meanings. 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACTION AND GESTURE 255 


The Ordinary Use of Action in Communication. 


What action should do ordinarily in oral communication 
may be suggested as follows: 

1. To suggest in a general way and moment by moment 
what is soon to be said in words; 

2. To give hints as to the direction, place, size, shape, and 
movement of objects, present and recalled ; 

3. To reveal the feelings of the speaker and his attitudes 
toward what he is saying, toward his audience, and toward 
himself ; 

4. To keep the message in touch with reality. - 


Some Exercises for Action. 


1. Balance first on one foot and then on the other as 
you read or speak. This will give you more poise. 

2. Walk with different rhythms and adjust your talking 
to your walking in order to improve your sense of rhythm 
and to learn to speak with different rhythms. 

3. Stand erect and stretch upward and outward to get a 
feeling of freedom and courage. 

4. Cultivate outward, upward, and forward movements to 
remove tensions. 

A more technical and elaborate working out of the prob- 
lems of action and gesture is necessary for all advanced work. 


A NOTE ON MEMORIZATION FOR DELIVERY 


RAY K. IMMEL 
University of Southern California 


Memorizing is not always easy for those unaccustomed to 
it. A few suggestions, based on well-known psychological 
principles, and confirmed in practice by experience and ob- 
servation, may be worth while.t 


*“*Do not memorize words before the content has been mastered. To 
memorize first is to put words before thought. When the meaning of the 
material to be memorized has been analyzed, studied, and its full content 
is thoroughly understood, go silently through the thought movement ; 
then, still silently, clothe these thoughts with the author’s words. Then 
say the words aloud. Hold the thought clearly and vigorously in mind 
and try to express. Let the thought prompt the delivery. Do not at 
this stage think of speaking to an audience; speak as to a single person. 
Gradually build up and strengthen to fit the needs of the platform, 
retaining all the time the essential conversational conditions: 1. Think- 
ing at the moment of delivery; 2. The sense of direct communication. 

‘* Practice much,—always with wide-awake mind. Force your delivery 
to expressiveness by repeated trials, accentuating your consciousness of 
the meaning and entering more and more into the spirit of the selection. 

‘If you do not find the process of memorizing easy, it will probably 
be because the work of interpretation and assimilation has not been 
sufficiently well done. William James has said that, ‘The art of remem- 
bering is the art of thinking; and when we wish to fix a new thing (in 
memory), our conscious effort should not be so much to impress and 
retain it as to connect it with something else already there. The 
connecting is the thinking.’ Of course, in fixing the precise words, a 
definite effort to impress and retain may be necessary; although sur- 
prisingly little effort is needed for this when assimilation is thorough. 

“Tf you have trouble in making your delivery expressive, the cause 

256 


A NOTE ON MEMORIZATION FOR DELIVERY 257 


To understand the process of memorizing it is necessary 
to remember that it is a process of association. When two 
things are experienced together, they become associated in 
the mind, and when later one of these things is recalled, 
it tends very strongly to recall the other. If, for instance, 
you see a certain old gentleman with a tall stove-pipe hat 
on his head, and if you see the gentleman and the hat to- 
gether several times, they become associated together in 
your mind. Thereafter, when you think of the old gentleman, 
you tend very strongly to think of the stove-pipe hat, and 
if you think of a stove-pipe hat, you tend to think of the 
old gentleman. | 

Now words seen together and ideas experienced together 
also associate themselves in your mind, and when one is re- 
called there is a tendency to recall the other. This is what 
happens when you read over a paragraph of prose. You 
read it from start to finish and you associate together the 
various words of the paragraph. More particularly, you 
associate the words and ideas which follow the one after 
the other. Hence, later on, if you say the first word of the 
paragraph, you tend to recall the second—the second recalls 
the third, and so on through the paragraph. In a word, 
memorizing is a process of associating together in a cer- 
tain definite way the words and ideas that you want to re- 
member. This being the case, there are a few rules for 
memorizing that will. help very materially, if followed out, 
and in brief form they are as follows: 

1. If the material to be memorized is part of a larger whole, 
read the entire selection first, so that you will understand the 
whole of which yours is a part. It is easier to memorize a 
thing we understand than one which we do not understand. 
again is probably lack of assimilation. Restudy more carefully and the 


result will be better. Make the thought your thought, the words your 
words.’’—J. A. Winans, Public Speaking, p. 456. 


258 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


If your selection is not part of a larger whole, then be sure 
that everything in your selection is understood thoroughly 
before you start to memorize it. 

2. Begin memorizing early and spread the work over as 
long.a tume as possible. In learning to play the piano it is 
much better to practice an hour a day for seven days than it 
is to practice seven hours in one day, and then not practice 
again for six days. The reason for this is that time is an 
important element in learning anything, and memorizing a 
selection is no exception to the rule. The psychologist would 
say that it takes time for the impression to deepen in the 
mind. 

3. One of the most important rules of memorizing is this: 
memorize your material as a whole, never sentence by sen- 
tence. If memorized one sentence at a time, that sentence 
being repeated over and over again until it is thoroughly 
memorized, the result is that there is an association formed 
between the last word of the sentence and the first word of 
the same sentence. This is so, because the words have been 
repeated in that order. Rather, an association should be 
formed between the last word of a sentence and the first word 
of the next sentence, and this can be done only by reading the 
selection straight through, so that associations at the end of 
sentences are formed with the beginning of the succeeding 
sentences. The result will be that the ideas and words will 
be recalled as you wish it to be. Therefore, in memorizing, 
read or repeat the speech straight through from beginning to 
end without stopping and going back. 

4. There 1s an advantage im reading or repeating out loud 
as you learn. You thus have the advantage of hearing the 
words and of feeling the muscular movements in the throat 
as the speech is spoken. Most people memorize faster by 
reading aloud than by reading to themselves. 

0. Always read or repeat the selection thoughtfully. Think 


A NOTE ON MEMORIZATION FOR DELIVERY 259 


every thought intensely as you go over it. Make it live again 
as you say it. Hold the mind strictly to the business in 
hand, and do not let the repetition of the words become 
mechanical. You are memorizing ideas as well as words. 

6. Try to feel the content of the selection as you read or 
repeat it. Get enthusiastic about it and give it as though it 
were your own. You will memorize more rapidly if you 
give the speech with enthusiasm. 

7. Read or repeat the selection as to an audience. Try to 
imagine yourself before the class or some other audience. 
Stand on your feet as you repeat the speech, and think of 
yourself as talking to actual people. If you are memorizing 
a part in a play, connect the ideas and words with the move- 
ments and business of the scene, with the positions of other 
characters, and with the settings and properties. 

8. Have the selection in a convenient place and read it at 
different times during the day. Do not read it more than 
once or twice at any given time, but repeat these readings 
several times during the day. Do not worry if the selection 
does not seem at first to be retained. Keep repeating it 
faithfully and it will soon begin to impress itself. It is a 
good rule to read the selection or repeat it just before going 
to bed. 

9, As the selection becomes a little more familiar, repeat 
as much as possible without looking at the page. Keep 
forcing yourself to get free from the manuscript, and, as 
you do so, practice vigorously, using gestures and all pos- 
sible means of effectiveness. Finally, if a few places in the 
selection ‘‘stick’’ and refuse to be memorized accurately, 
work intensively on these parts until you have them in mind 
and the whole speech can be repeated freely. 

10. For value in practice a selection should be absolutely 
word perfect. The work of memorizing is not done when 
you have been able to repeat once or twice without looking 


260 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


at the text. It should be gone over until you have been able 
to do it many times without any mistake. Only when you 
have been able to do this can you say that memorization is 
complete. 


Final Suggestions. 


Many people find memorizing difficult, because they have 
an idea that it is hard or impossible for them to memorize 
things. They think that their memories are different from 
other people’s memories. It is true that some memories work 
faster than others and that some people have to spend a 
much longer time memorizing a speech than others do, but it 
is also true that any person of average intelligence can 
memorize and get it word perfect. It is all a question of 
willingness to apply oneself until the task is complete. 
The person who sets out with the belief that he can memorize 
will find the process much easier. Doubt of one’s ability 
invariably makes the work difficult. 


PROBLEMS AND METHODS IN THE COR- 
RECTION OF DEFECTIVE SPEECH 


SMILEY BLANTON 
Minneapolis Child Guidance Clinic 


The correction of speech defects is highly expert work re- 
quiring special training. The clinic, not the classroom, is 
the place for most of it. An analysis of the common dlis- 
orders and a suggestion of methods of treatment will, how- 
ever, enable the untrained teacher to approach problems in- 
telliigently and carefully, will help to indicate what cases 
should be sent to a specialist, will warn against confusion in 
attempts at training, and will demonstrate the need of special 
training for work in speech correction. 

Speech disorders may be classified from the descriptive 
point of view as follows: (1) delayed speech, (2) oral in- 
activities, (3) letter substitution, and (4) stuttering, which 
includes stammering. 


DELAYED SPEECH 


In order to know whether speech is delayed, the age at 
which normal speech develops must be known. Several 
periods of speech development are passed through in learn- 
ing normal speech: First, we have the period of reflex and 
instinctive cries; second, the period of language sounds with- 
out any association of ideas; third, the period of language 
sounds with the association of ideas, but without sentence 
form; fourth, the period of sentence building. The ordinary 
child should begin to use speech in a conscious way, in order 

261 


262 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


to get what he wants, by the age of fifteen months. If a 
child cannot talk with some degree of efficiency by the time 
he is two and one-half years old, he should be given a very 
careful mental and nervous examination by a physician who 
is familiar with nervous diseases. It is essential that the 
child should be able to talk very freely from the age of three 
to six. The four causes of delayed speech are: (a) lack of 
mental development, (b) lack of necessity for speech, (c) 
continued illness with extreme malnutrition during infancy, 
and (d) infantile neuroses. 

(a) Lack of mental development—The new-born infant has 
all the muscles and nerves necessary for speech, but he can 
only make a few animal-like eries, because his brain cannot 
make the fine codrdinations necessary for speech. As the 
child grows, there develops on one side of the brain, opposite 
from the preferential hand, the speech area. In the speech 
area are stored the patterns necessary for the coordinations 
of speech. This speech area is not present at birth; it must 
be developed. 

The brain must be normal in order that the child develop 
speech. Sometimes the brain is injured through accident or 
disease, and speech does not develop. If the injury is dis- 
covered early, and treatment is instituted, speech may be im- 
proved, but if the child is left untreated for several years 
after the injury, the chances for improving speech are very 
remote. . 

In addition, the child must be able to see, because it has 
been discovered that children who are blind are retarded in 
their speech development. 

Most important of all the senses is hearing. Defects in 
hearing, of even a slight degree, prevent the normal develop- 
ment of speech. It seems that the auditory impressions are 
the most important of all for the development of speech. 
Deaf children do not develop speech normally. Such children 


THE CORRECTION OF DEFECTIVE SPEECH = 263 


can be taught to speak, but it is a long and tedious process 
that requires the services of well-trained, expert teachers. 
These children should be placed in a well-organized school or 
a class for the deaf, and should be given oral speech at an 
early age. Giving speech to the deaf is perhaps the most 
technical of all the branches of education. 

The development of the mental life of the deaf child de- 
pends very largely on whether or not speech is given. Even 
when there is only a slight defect in hearing, children de- 
velop peculiar and imperfect speech. This is accounted for 
by the fact that the child does not hear the sounds correctly, 
and therefore cannot make them correctly. 

(b) Lack of necessity for speech—Speech is developed in 
response to a definite need. It is a means by which we adjust 
ourselves to the group; the child finds that he can get things 
more quickly through speech than he can through cries and 
gestures. If this need is not present, if the child has too 
much done for it, speech is often delayed. Nervous children 
especially, if everything is done for them, if all their desires 
are gratified as soon as they ery or gesture, will not develop 
speech. Such children can only be taught to talk by insisting 
that they ask for the things they want. Even though the 
effort is imperfect in the beginning, we must insist that the 
child make use of it. 

Sometimes children develop speech, but it is a kind of 
jargon that no one except the parents can understand. 
Often the child can talk quite well, but he insists upon using 
this baby-talk jargon instead of the normal speech. We saw 
a child recently who would say, ‘‘E wha to tu’’ for “‘I want 
water.’’ It cannot be too strongly emphasized that this type 
of speech indicates an emotional maladjustment. It means 
that the child is trying to get attention in an unjustifiable 
way, that he is too dependent, too infantile, that he is not 
making the social adjustments which are necessary for 


264 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


healthy group relationships. Above all, the parents must 
not use baby-talk jargon in speaking to the child. The child 
must be in a position where he hears normal speech, and must 
be required to use it himself. 

(ec) Continued illness, with extreme malnutrition during 
infancy—It very often happens that poorly nourished chil- 
dren, and especially those who have suffered severely from 
rickets during infancy, do not develop speech at the normal 
time. We have seen cases of this type where the child did 
not begin to talk until two and one-half or three years of age. 
Speech disorders caused by illness or malnutrition should 
be referred to the physician for treatment. Such cases are 
not common. 

(d) Infantile neuroses—Children suffering from infantile 
neuroses, as shown by extreme negativism and hysterical 
mechanism, should be carefully trained. This makes it 
necessary for the home conditions to be modified. 


ORAL INACTIVITIES 


Oral inactivities consist of a slurring or indistinctness of 
speech, which may be due to some organic disease of the 
speech organs, to some emotional conflict, or to some dif- 
ficulty in the learning process. From the descriptive point of 
view the term covers a large group of speech defects in 
which we find inactivity of the lips, jaw, tongue, or soft 
palate. A careful history in many of the cases of inactivity 
of the tongue reveals the presence of rickets in infancy. 
So frequent is this relationship that we have come to feel 
that rickets may perhaps cause a specialized weakness of the 
tongue, especially the front of the tongue. Some of the 
cases of oral inactivity have suffered from malnutrition in 
early childhood. Oral inactivity of the lips and jaw is nearly 
always indicative of an emotional blocking. A person who 
has a stiff, inactive Jaw in speaking usually is suffering from 


THE CORRECTION OF DEFECTIVE SPEECH 265 


emotional blocking. Of course we exclude those rare cases 
in which we have some disease affecting the movement of 
the jaw. 

We may say that the two causes of oral inactivities are: 
(1) some organic weakness of the articulatory organs, caused 
by rickets or severe malnutrition in infancy, or (2) some 
injury of the nervous system causing a weakness or paralysis 
of the speech organs. 

The treatment consists of a careful reéducation of the 
speech organs. Great care must be taken, however, that the 
child is not made too conscious of his speech or overanxious 
about it. The learning process is often hindered by unwise 
attempts on the part of parents or teachers to give the child 
technical phonetic training. The speech sounds must be 
taught in the form of games and rhymes. In nearly every 
case emotional reéducation is also necessary, since there has 
been built up a series of little fears and feelings of insecurity 
because of the speech defect. 


LETTER SUBSTITUTION OR LISPING 


Letter substitution is usually called lalling or lisping, and 
is a substitution of one sound for another. The seriousness 
of the handicap with which the lisper is burdened is often 
underestimated. A lisp in a young child or in a pretty girl 
may be, to some people, a rather engaging thing, but it cer- 
tainly acds nothing to the charm or success of a middle-aged 
person of either sex. 

In passing, it may be noted that lisping is just as common 
in men as in women. It is interesting to note that many men 
do have this handicap—for a lisp is really a serious handi- 
cap which interferes very much with the possessor’s social 
adjustments. 

A lisp is a large subdivision of a group of speech defects 
which are called letter-sound substitutions. These letter- 


266 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


sound substitutions are numerous. The commonest substitu- 
tions are w for 1 and r, v for th, t for k, tsh for tr, and 
voiceless J for s. Lisping is a substitution of th, voiced or 
voiceless, for sh or s or z. Simple Simon becomes Thimple 
Thimon. 

In studying the letter-sound substitutions, we find that 
there are two types. In one, the child always substitutes one 
sound for the other; we find some children who never make 
the sound represented by the symbol r—they always say 
wun for run, or wed for red. In the other type the child can 
make all the sounds, but gets them in the wrong places; for 
example a child may say tac for cat—here he makes all the 
sounds in cat, but gets them in the wrong order. It is 
obvious that these two types, although the speech may sound 
about the same, are vitally different—because if the child 
cannot make the sound, he has to have corrective phonetics - 
to help him produce the sound, whereas if he can make all 
the sounds, and merely gets them in the wrong places, it is 
largely a question of ear training, so that the child can recog- 
nize the sounds. 


CONFUSION IN TRAINING 


Our lack of knowledge of the way our speech is made is 
astonishing. Many people think that words are pronounced 
in the same way in which they are written. Really we do 
not speak in words at all; we speak in phrases; the word and 
the syllable are both arbitrary units. The word, the syllable, 
and the individual sound are all arbitrary units. When we 
speak, we run sounds, syllables, and words together in phrases 
and sentences; yet we often try to correct a child’s speech on 
the basis of these arbitrary and misunderstood units. Take 
the phrase, ‘‘ What are you doing?’’ As spoken, this is one 
word; it sounds as though it were spelled—Wh-a-t-e-r-y-uh- 
d-o-i-ng? Very often we try to have a child say every word 


THE CORRECTION OF DEFECTIVE SPEECH = 267 


—thus: ‘‘What—are—you—doing?’’ This is the so-called 
strong form of speech; it is used only when one is under a 
great emotional strain, or desires to be very emphatic. The 
child hears his parents say one thing when they use this strong 
form and speak slowly, and another thing when they use the 
weak form and speak rapidly. Consequently he grows con- 
fused, and does not form the correct speech images. 


TREATMENT FOR LIsPING 


The defect of letter substitution is often said to be caused 
by some abnormality of the teeth or palatal arch, the organic 
causes most commonly assigned to it being (1) malocclusion 
of the teeth, and (2) poor dental arch. Our observations, 
however, have led us to believe that only a minority of these 
cases are caused by organic abnormality. <A high per- 
centage of people who have a poor arch or malocclusion or 
both, have no difficulty whatever with the sounds of the 
English language. There jis only one type of malocclusion 
that we know will cause a lisp, and that is a marked pro- 
trusion of the lower jaw. The majority of these cases are 
caused by emotional conflicts of one sort or another. Many 
of them are due to a retention of infantile emotional habits. 
In fact the two commonest causes of letter-sound substitution 
are: (1) infantilism and (2) confusion in training. The 
individual with an infantile lisp does not wish to detach him- 
self, at least psychologically, from hig childish attitudes and 
surroundings, and so retains a type of speech which was 
perhaps legitimate at the age of three. This is a sort of bond 
between him and his early life. This unwillingness to grow 
up, as regards speech, is the thing at fault. Very rarely is 
there any organic deformity of the articulatory organs. It 
certainly is very suggestive of an infantile attitude when an 
adult of good intelligence continues to have a definite lisp. 
Curiously enough, many people who have lisps are entirely 


268 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


unconscious of it. The second cause, confusion in training, 
has already been explained. 

The treatment consists of two parts: (a) emotional re- 
education, and (b) phonetic reéducation. Even in those 
cases that are the result of organic difficulties there will be 
certain fears and emotional reactions connected with the 
speech which must be eliminated before a cure can be effected. 
In treating this defect the teacher must do three things: (1) 
he must determine the position of the speech organs in the 
incorrectly made sound; (2) he must know the position of 
the speech organs in the correctly made sound; (8) he must be 
able to determine what overreaction of the articulatory 
organs is likely to give the sounds desired. 

In working with the child there are three points to be 
noted, which may be roughly stated as follows: (a) unlearn- 
ing of the wrong position of the articulatory organs, (b) 
learning the right position of the articulatory organs, and 
(c) practice until a correct habitual use of the right organs 
has been obtained. This will mean that the teacher must have 
a thorough knowledge of phonetics. 


STUTTERING, WHICH INCLUDES STAMMERING 


Stuttering, under which we include stammering, may be 
described as a break in the rhythm of speech arising from 
an inability to make the muscular codrdinations necessary 
for speech. It must not be thought of as a disease, but as a 
symptom of any of a great number of underlying conditions. 
The first step is to obtain a history of the child, which in- © 
cludes the family history, the medical history, and the child’s 
emotional reactions at home and at school. One should find 
out whether the child is sensitive or fearful, whether he day- 
dreams too much or is moody, whether he gets along well with 
other children, and what his reactions are in the home, in 
the school, and on the playground. Maladjustment should 


THE CORRECTION OF DEFECTIVE SPEECH = 269 


then be modified. The treatment comes under two heads: 
(a) emotional reéducation, and (b) relaxation. In re- 
educating we train toward the adjustment of the entire in- 
dividual to his surroundings. The most fundamental thing 
is the changing of his general emotional reactions, and the 
correcting of faulty habits which give rise to tension. This 
method will be discussed later in greater detail. 

Stuttering is common enough in children to constitute a 
very serious difficulty. The average percentage of stuttering 
found in many surveys in this country and abroad shows 
that about nine children out of every thousand stutter. 

Not infrequently we hear it claimed that children who 
stutter will overcome it in time. A personal survey was 
made of the fourteen hundred members of the entering 
Freshmen class at the University of Wisconsin. It was 
found that one per cent of the students had a marked stutter, 
and one per cent had a mild stutter, making two per cent in 
all. It will be seen from these figures that stuttering is not 
outgrown to any great degree, and even though the defect 
itself disappears, there remains the defect in the emotions— 
an undue sensitiveness, a feeling of inferiority which inter- 
feres with the progress of the individual. 

Curiously enough, the distribution of stuttering in boys 
and girls is very disproportionate. There is four to six times 
as much stuttering among boys as among girls. Just why 
this is so no one knows. When a girl does stutter, however, 
it is Just as difficult to overcome the defect as it is in a boy. 

We do not find any explanation of the cause of stuttering 
through the examination of the bodily organs. Of course, 
such conditions as malnutrition, diseased tonsils, carious 
teeth, and nasal obstructions may cause an increase in the 
natural irritability of the nervous system, but those conditions 
are not the cause of stuttering. 

The real cause of stuttering is the fear, partly conscious 


270 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


and partly subconscious, of meeting the group. The child 
fears to meet the group, but he also has a desire to do So. 
These tendencies to flee and to meet the situation come into 
conflict, and we have a compromise in which we have neither 
good speech nor absence of speech, but broken, inhibited, 
stuttering speech. 

A search of the emotional life of stuttering children always 
reveals some of these defects—timidity, strong feelings of 
inferiority, an overdependence on the parents, and feelings 
of inadequacy. The essential characteristic of the tempera- 
ment of the stuttering child is a marked sensitiveness to social 
situations. Stuttering should be thought of primarily as a 
danger signal which indicates that the child requires very 
careful training in order that he may make use of a sensitive, 
overreacting nervous system. 

A study of the temperaments of two hundred unselected 
stuttering children showed the following facts: fourteen per- 
cent seemed to have normal temperaments; forty-eight per 
cent had marked feelings of inferiority; fourteen per cent 
overcompensated for this inferiority by being bumptious and 
forward; fifteen per cent showed marked swings of mood be- 
yond the average—happy and excitable one day, moody and 
distressed the next; and nine per cent were overexcitable 
and overactive. 


TREATMENT FOR STUTTERING 


The treatment of stuttering falls under three headings: 
(a) physical hygiene, (b) mental hygiene, by which we 
mean emotional reéducation, and (c) relaxation and training 
in muscle coordination. 

(a) The laws of physical hygiene are well known to 
parents, so we will not dwell upon this phase. 

(b) In mental hygiene the most fundamental thing is the 
changing of the general emotional reactions and the correct- 


THE CORRECTION OF DEFECTIVE SPEECH 271 


ing of faulty attitudes which give rise to tension. The child 
must be taught to work successfully rather than to day- 
dream, and to get along well with other children. Some 
outlet must be found for the child’s fundamental, social, and 
biological tendencies and for his necessity of winning some 
SUCCESS. 

As part of the reéducation we include suggestion. This 
may be given in two ways: (1) Direct suggestion, by show- 
ing the child that he can talk when alone and in certain 
situations, and then assuring him that if he can talk in one 
situation he can talk in others. (2) Indirect suggestion is 
given by the teacher’s attitude and by the attitude in the 
home. It often occurs that the indirect suggestion of the 
attitude in the home overcomes all of the teacher’s good work 
with the child. Whenever the child does well, he should be 
praised for it and the suggestion given that he will be able 
to continue to improve until, finally, the speech defect is 
eliminated altogether. Gradually, as the child improves, he 
should be made to give talks in front of other people and to 
place himself in situations where he will have to talk and 
answer questions. 

Parents should absolutely ignore the child’s speech defect. 
They should not ask him to repeat sentences, and should not 
seem distressed or irritated when the child becomes blocked 
or inhibited. Even slight changes of expression on the face 
are noticed by the stuttering child. 

(c) The use of phonetics or of vocal exercises, such as in- 
flection, change of pitch, breathing, ete., is to be avoided. 
There is no difficulty in the child’s speech mechanism. The 
difficulty is chiefly psychological. Practice in speech as a 
whole, and talking to people, are to be encouraged, because 
this is really training the child to meet situations. One of 
the most helpful things is the teaching of general relaxation. 
In this the child lies down and relaxes the whole body—feet 


272 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


and legs, thighs, abdomen, chest, neck, fingers, forearm, 
upper arm, and finally the tongue, jaw, and face. When the 
child is completely relaxed, he is asked to repeat a sentence, 
and later on to tell a story and to carry on a conversation, 
and when he can do this, he is trained to carry this feeling 
of relaxation with him as he goes about his daily activities. 


A WORKABLE BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE BEGINNER IN SPEECH CORRECTION 


The treatment of speech defects requires at least some special knowl- 
edge of the function of speech, and of the emotional and instinctive life 
of the individual as well as the mechanics of speech. A study of the 
books which are listed below will, I believe, give the beginner an 
insight of just what the problem is, although I cannot say it will prepare 
him for the actual treatment of speech disorders. This will require much 
practical work. It is true that results are very often obtained by indi- 
viduals who have had little or no training at all. These results can be 
explained as the results of suggestion, but we cannot be sure of the 
results unless we have better equipment than that given by good will and 
a sympathetic heart. 


Jones, Daniel. An Outline of English Phonetics, Leipzig and Berlin, 
Teubner. 

Ripman, Walter. Sounds of Spoken English and Specimens of English, 
New York, Dutton & Co. 

Palmer, Harold E. First Course in English Phonetics. Cambridge, 
England, Heffer & Son. 

Herrick, C. Judson. An Introduction to Neurology, 3rd Edition, Phila- 
delphia, Lippincott, 1922. 

Watson, John B. Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, 
Philadelphia, Lippincott. 

Prince, Morton. The Unconscious, New York, Macmillan & Co. 

Wells, F. Lyman. Mental Adjustments, New York, D. Appleton & Co., 
1920. 

Green, Geo. H. Psychoanalysis in the Classroom, New York, G. P. Put- 
nam’s Sons, 1922. 

Pfister, Osker. Psychoanalysis in the Service of Education, New York, 
Moffat, Yard & Co., 1922. 

Brown, William. Suggestion and Mental Analysis, London, Univ. of 
London Press, 1923. 


THE CORRECTION OF DEFECTIVE SPEECH 273 


Brown, William. Psychology and Psychotherapy, New York, Longmans, 
Green & Co., 1922. 

Appelt, Alfred. Stammering and Its Permanent Cure, 2nd Ed., London, 
Methuen & Co., 1920. 

Bluemel, G. S. Stuttering and Cognate Speech Defects, New York, 
G. E. Stechert & Co. 

Scripture, E. W. Stuttering, Lisping, and Correction of the Speech of 
the Deaf, 24 Ed., New York, Macmillan Co., 1923. 

Osnato, Michael M, D. Aphasia and Te a Speech Problems, New 
York, Paul B. Hoeber, 1920. 

Behnke, K. Emil. Stammering, Cleft-Palate Speech, Lisping, London, 
Bailliere, Tindall & Cox, 8 Henriette St., Covent Garden, 1922. 

Kempf, Edward J. The Autonomic Nervous System and the Personality, 
Washington, D. C., Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Co. 

Cannon, W. B. Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage, New 
York, D. Appleton & Co., 29 W. 32nd St., 1915. 

Dearborn, George Van N. The Influence of Joy, Boston, Little, Brown & 
Co., 1916. 


FOREIGN ACCENT AND ITS ERADICATION 


DANIEL W. REDMOND 
College of the City of New York 


The term ‘‘foreign accent’’ as here used must be taken to 
include all those variations from the standard English of 
America which identify a speaker using English as a second 
or acquired language. 

By ‘‘standard English’’ in America we mean what Pro- 
fessor Krapp means when he defines the standard negatively 
as ‘‘the speech which is least likely to attract attention to 
itself as being peculiar to any class or locality’’ (The Pro- 
nunciation of Standard English in America, p. ix.) 


AIM 


Since ‘‘foreign accent’’ does identify its user as one coming 
from a particular locality, it is to be removed. 

There are two ways by which language may be learned: by 
imitation and by conscious building up of the words through 
combination of their sound elements. Imitation is the method 
followed in learning ‘‘the mother tongue.’’ It depends for 
its success upon keenness of ear and upon muscular control 
of the speech mechanism. 

The learner of a second language approaches it with more 
or less fixed sound impressions and fixed muscular habits. 
The very presence of ‘‘foreign accent’’ in his speech proves 
that imitation alone cannot remove it. In many pupils 
imitation will remove some of the objectionable variations, 
but the ear is usually not keen enough to distinguish between 

274 


FOREIGN ACCENT AND ITS ERADICATION | 275 


‘‘standard English’’ and ‘‘foreign accent.’’ The ‘‘foreign 
accent’’ remains because the pupil does not hear it in his own 
speech. Training of the pupil’s ear by sounding the correct 
and the incorrect sound values in succession may improve 
his power to distinguish between the American and the 
foreign sound. Many pupils who speak with a marked accent 
write and spell English with a high degree of skill. They 
simply do not hear their own vocal variations, or, hearing 
them, do not know how to go about correcting them. 

The teacher who sets out to correct ‘‘foreign accent’’ needs 
a sympathetic point of view and special training. He should 
have learned to use, as a spoken medium, at least one foreign 
language. He will then appreciate the difficulty of learning 
a new set of muscular adjustments. He should have a good 
training in the science of phonetics. With this experience 
he will be able to classify the objectionable variations of a 
pupil who has a ‘‘foreign accent.’’ 


APPROACH 


The objectionable variations may be: 

(1) Change in the value of individual sounds or groups of 
sounds, e.g. eat for it, had for head, hat for had, ve for we. 

(2) Change in rhythm, stress, or inflection. 

It must not be assumed that the pupil hampered by 
‘foreign accent’’ has proper control of the fundamentals of 
sound production. Some of these pupils produce the sounds 
of their original language well, while others produce no sounds 
well. These, like all beginners in speech work, must be 
drilled upon: 


(1) Correct sound production and tone placement, 
(2) Development of flexibility in the speech organs. 


Much of this fundamental drill may be done in classes, 
even in classes with pupils who have no accent or dialect. 


276 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


The imitative powers of the pupil will aid in this drill. 
Group instinct will assist in removing the pupil’s fear of the 
sound of his own voice. A few of the faults may be removed 
in the course of such class drills. 


METHOD 


Finally, there will be a number of pupils who continue to 
use ‘‘foreign accent’’ after imitation and group drill have 
done for them all they can. For each of these it will be neces- 
sary to analyze the underlying mechanics of English speech 
and also the mechanics of the pupil’s own speech to determine 
the cause of the persisting variations. The pupil must do 
consciously for English what he did unconsciously for his 
first language, namely, build up a set of muscular responses. 
Some general classes may be found, but the habits of any one 
pupil differ so much from the habits of all others that the 
problem must be treated as an individual, personal one. 
Some difference of opinion may exist as to whether the 
vowels or consonants should be taught first. Practical con- 
siderations favor the teaching of the vowels first. The 
vowels may be produced alone, each being independent of 
every other sound. The pupil must be shown that the correct 
value for the English vowel depends upon the correct ad- 
justment of the mouth cavity and the correct use of voiced 
breath in this properly adjusted mouth cavity. This con- 
nection can be made clear by the aid of the diagrams in 
Ripman’s Hlements of Phonetics, pp. 28-29, or those in Lewis’s 
American Speech, Chapter IT. 

Most pupils having ‘‘foreign accent’’ will be found to 
differ from standard in only a few sounds. Some may have 
proper English sounds used in wrong places, resulting in such 
changes as bed for bad, bead for bid, ete. 

When the pupil knows that correct production of standard 
English vowels results from correct adjustment of the mouth 


FOREIGN ACCENT AND ITS ERADICATION = 277 


mechanism accompanied by proper use of breath, he may be 
shown that correct consonants will result from the proper 
interference with, or stoppage of, the breath stream. In the 
production of consonants as of vowels the pupil’s actual varia- 
tions may be few. There may be substitutions as in vay for 
way, hat for had, ete. There may also be sounds not found at 
all in English, resulting from methods of breath-stopping not 
used by English-speaking people. All necessary directions 
for consonant formation may be found in Principles of Oral 
English, by Palmer and Sammis, and also in American 
Speech, by C. L. Lewis. 

The best available manual on the causes of ‘‘foreign 
accent’’ and on the exercises for its removal is Foreign 
Accent, A. Supplement to the Syllabus in English for the 
Elementary Schools of the City of New York, by Dr. Fred- 
erick W. Martin, Board of Education, The City of New 
York, 1917, Reprint 1924. 

See also Federal Bureau of Education Bulletin, No. 80, 
1919, ‘Teaching English to the Foreign Born,’’ by Henry H. 
Goldberger. 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 
TRAINING TEACHERS FOR OrAL ENGLISH 


The current interest in public speaking, oral reading, de- 
bating, dramatic interpretation, phonetics, voice training, and 
speech correction is proof of a growing conviction of the 
importance of oral expression in all its phases. The demand 
for well-taught courses comes both from ‘‘practical’’ folk who 
ask for ‘‘results,’’ and from experts in education who realize 
the lack of opportunities for self-expression in our schools. 
The scarcity of teachers with the requisite knowledge, skill, 
and personality to conduct these courses shows the necessity 
of special aptitude and training for this work. Every recent 
important report on the problems of teaching English has 
recommended that more attention be given to oral English 
and speaking. Many specialists in the teaching of English 
have, of late, been occupied with attempts to set standards 
and suggest projects for reading and speaking. Recent discus- 
sions of the teaching of English composition constantly em- 
phasize the importance of a return to ‘‘oral composition.’’ 
The theory of composition as a practical art—as communica- 
tion, as expression for a given audience—which has always 
been the basic theory of the rhetoric of public speaking—is 
more and more becoming the standard of all instruction in 
English composition. 

The situation in the high school is, at its very best, unsat- 
isfactory. <A teacher is engaged to teach English. In college | 
he has had a good general education, training in English 
literature and in composition. He may have been required 

278 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 279 


to take courses in educational theory and Old English as 
necessary prerequisites to a recommendation for a high school 
position in English. So far so good. But when he begins 
work he is surprised and distressed to find that a fourth of 
his formal class work is supposed to be ‘‘ Oral English.’’? And 
what is more alarming, the direction of ‘‘ weekly rhetoricals,’’ 
debates, forums, Christmas, Easter and Commencement plays, 
and other ‘‘outside activities’’ intended to give pupils op- 
portunities for oral expression, threatens to absorb all his 
‘“academie leisure.’’ In all too many cases he is really judged, 
not by his effectiveness in the class work for which he was 
presumably engaged, but by his success in this ‘‘public’’ work 
for which he has had no training. 

And most difficult and exacting and reputation-risking 
work this additional burden is. Bad enough to find out how 
important and how difficult it is to read well to his classes 
in English literature! He has no training in reading; he 
has seldom read aloud—even to himself! But his good sense 
will come to his aid and he can gradually learn to interpret 
literature fairly well and sometimes inspiringly—if indeed 
he is not too scared at the start ever really to try. But he 
finds himself shaky on standards in public speaking and 
delivery, and his pupils must suffer and publicly exhibit his 
uncertainty. He feels he really knows nothing about debating 
—let alone how to train pupils to debate sensibly. He knows 
a good deal about plays but nothing about their technical 
presentation or about acting—still he must put the students 
through their paces and before the whole local public. And, 
what shall he do with bad voices, foreign accent, defects of 
speech? He has had no work in voice training or in phonetics. 
He has no notion of the problems of speech correction and no 
confidence in the results of what he might attempt to do to 
help the stammerer. He has really never given serious atten- 
tion to pronunciation. He is apt to be quite wrong if he 


280 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


even attempts to tell a student how to breathe. So while the 
teachers of mathematics and Latin retire luxuriously at tea- 
time from the field of academic turmoil, the teacher of Eng- 
lish, under the administration’s benignant eye, sits contem- 
plating themes, polyglot speech, schedules of rhetoricals, de- 
bates and plays, the syllabus, and his conscience—defeatedly 
wondering what his nerves will be after ten years of all this. 
He is sure of only three things—meager thanks, no recogni- 
tion, no over-time pay. 

Such a teacher, if he is wise and not overconscientious, is 
hardly to be blamed for slighting all this work. Or, if con- 
scientious, he is hardly to be severely censured for plowing 
diligently and sacrificingly ahead, often doing more harm 
than good. Schools and colleges—as well as the teaching 
profession itself—are full of the wreckage of work in oral 
expression unwisely but all too conscientiously done. It is no 
wonder that State Departments of Education are frank in 
saying that while they realize the importance of oral work 
and are anxious to increase it, they cannot require or even 
really encourage more elective courses in high school till the 
supply of trained teachers is materially increased. Is it any 
wonder that teachers of English are asking more consideration 
for such special ability as they may have in Oral English, 
Public Speaking, and Dramatics? Some schools, of course, 
recognize the situation. But in general too little has been 
done to help teachers satisfy the demands imposed upon 
them, )2)"4)! 

Those intending to teach secondary school English should 
be strongly advised, if not required, to take in college at least 
a reasonable minimum of work in Oral Reading, Public Speak- 
ing, and Dramatics. Even this minimum would add greatly 
to every teacher’s equipment and effectiveness, and contribute 
surprisingly to the ease and comfort with which a profes- 
sional career is begun. Some additional specialization in 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 281 


(1) Voice Training, Phonetics, and Speech Correction, or (2) 
in Public Speaking, Argumentation and Debate, or (3) Dra- 
matics would be wise. Such courses should be planned to give 
technical knowledge of problems and methods and should 
demand sufficient practice to give satisfactory personal skill. 
They should emphasize sound standards, good taste, and the 
fundamental nature of oral expression as communica- 
tion. . . . There are, of course, some who say any one can do 
this work—all it requires is ordinary good sense. Those who 
hold this view have either never had opportunity to see the 
results of poor teaching in oral expression, or are too blind 
to see them, or have not themselves the standards and taste 
which they erroneously assume are universally enjoyed. 

Too many colleges seem to ignore the problems of the 
schools for which they are training teachers. The pressure 
necessary to have conditions improved may have to be 
oreatin. 5). 

Kvery elementary school teacher is, and should be, expected 
to pay attention to certain phases of oral expression and 
speech training. The problem of speech is more immediately 
a problem of all grades in the elementary school than in the 
more specialized curriculum of the high school. Normal 
schools should therefore make obligatory a general funda- 
mental course—requiring both knowledge and skill—in voice 
training, phonetics, oral reading, and communicative speak- 
ing. Additional special courses in Reading, Speaking, Dra- 
matics, and Speech Correction should be offered. All these 
would add to the teacher’s vocational efficiency, and afford 
valuable general training for the teacher. .. . 

Plainly the ideal system of education should depend more 
on the influence of the home than seems generally possible 
to-day. Home influence is especially powerful in matters of 
language, speech, and taste. It is equally clear that the home 
now leaves and will continue to leave almost impossible tasks 


982 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


for the school to perform. Many results of home influence the 
school must laboriously struggle to correct. The more cos- 
mopolitan the local school population the greater the prob- 
lems of correction will be. 

The present situation demands: (1) in the elementary 
school, constant, wise, and skilful attention to the elements of 
speech, and to speaking and reading in general—for in these 
schools good habits will be formed, or most bad habits must, 
if ever, be corrected; (2) in the high school, specialized work 
in Public Speaking, Oral Reading, Debating, Public Discus- 
sion, Forms of Public Address, Dramatic Interpretation—for 
the vast majority of citizens get their whole training in public 
expression in the high schools, and it is immensely important 
that their standards and taste be soundly formed, whether 
they are to exercise them as speakers or as audience; (3) m 
the colleges, specialized courses for the general student body, 
and through a proper selection from these courses, or through 
separate Teachers’ Courses, sound training for those intending 
to teach. College teachers and some high school teachers will 
continue at the universities for graduate work and for ad- 
vanced degrees. 

Normal school training classes and any other agencies for 
preparing elementary school teachers should, at the very least, 
insist on the suggested elementary courses in speech training, 
in anatomy, physiology, and hygiene of voice production, in 
voice training, oral reading, communicative speaking, and 
dramatization. In addition to similar training, prospective 
high school teachers of English should in college have some 
preparation for teaching Public Speaking, Debate, Oral Inter- 
pretation of Literature, Forms of Public Address, and Dra- 
matics. Teachers intending to specialize in Speech Training, 
Public Speaking, or Dramatics would naturally want more 
training in these subjects than teachers of English. College 
teachers must be prepared, on the one hand, for special work 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 283 


in the various branches of oral expression offered by the col- 
lege curriculum as part of the general education, and on the 
other, for the training of high school teachers of English and 
of speaking. College teachers of these subjects are, and nor- 
mal school teachers should be, specialists—and there is ample 
opportunity for specialization. 

We are probably approaching this general organization, but 
very slowly. ... Neither the necessity of the situation nor 
the requirements of the system have very appreciably im- 
proved the requirements or the facilities for training teachers. 
True, as good teachers to train teachers are scarce, haste must 
be made slowly. But a frank recognition of the problem, a 
demand for proper training of teachers, and the organization 
of proper training courses would probably do more in one 
or two school or college generations to bring the teaching 
of Oral English and Public Speaking to the effectiveness the 
recognized importance of these subjects demands than will 
the present nervous waiting in a lifetime. 

Meanwhile, as always, the alert and progressive teachers 
will do something for themselves. Self-education, if carefully 
based on the soundest theories, the best books, good taste, 
and good sense will do much. University summer schools, 
more than any other agency, have recognized the importance 
of filling this gap in the training of teachers already at work. 
A number of summer sessions offer excellent and varied 
courses under the best teachers in the country. In some eases 
college graduates will find it possible to combine training in 
fundamentals with graduate work for advanced degrees. A 
steadily increasing number of teachers are taking advantage 
of these opportunities. 

Although, for the present, the university summer session 
probably offers the best solution of the problem, it can never 
be quite satisfactory. A systematized reorganization of the 
training of both elementary and high school teachers for the 


284 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


work in Speech Training, Oral English, Public Speaking, and 
Dramatics which they will be required to do is needed. Al- 
ready effective beginnings have been made, and there are 
indications that the much-needed thorough reforms will soon 
receive vigorous general support.—From the English Bulletin, 
published by the New York State Association of Teachers of 
English. Vol. III, No. 3. June, 1923. 


RECOMMENDATIONS: OF THE BrRiTISH COMMITTEE 


In the Syllabus in English for the Board of Education’s 
Final Examination of students in the Teachers’ Training 
Colleges . . . no reference is made to Reading and Recitation, 
or to Phonetics. These appear, however, under the heading of 
‘‘Professional Subjects,’’ where it is stated that ‘‘students 
will be required to read aloud passages from the books pre- 
scribed for general and detailed study under the head of 
English,’’ and that ‘‘passages from standard English authors 
should be learned by heart.’’ The teaching should also in- 
clude ‘‘such a knowledge of Elementary Practical Phonetics 
as will enable the student to analyze and classify the sounds 
of spoken English, and to explain the mechanism of their pro- 
duction in terms suitable for teaching children how to speak 
and read distinctly.’’ 

The distinction between ‘‘general’’ and ‘“‘professional’’ 
subjects is bound to be somewhat difficult to define. Such 
subjects as History, Geography, and Arithmetic, which were 
regarded at the time of the Neweastle report merely as 
‘‘subjects intended to increase directly the professional skill 
of the students’’ have long figured in the Regulations as 
‘‘general’’ subjects. In the 1920 Regulations already re- 
ferred to, Singing, Drawing and Needlework have been newly 
promoted from the category of professional to that of general 
subjects. Reading and Recitation, however, no longer appear 
as separate subjects, being absorbed into ‘‘The Principles 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 285 


and Practice of Teaching.’’ We understand that the existing 
arrangements are by no means intended to minimize the 
importance of Reading and Recitation, but that, on the con- 
trary, their aim is to facilitate the testing of all students in 
spoken English. We fear, nevertheless, that a wrong im- 
pression may sometimes be created by the non-appearance 
of these subjects in the English Syllabus, and we think it 
desirable that the Syllabus should indicate that Reading, 
Recitation and Phonetics are essential features of the study 
of English. 

Our witnesses are agreed in emphasizing the need for a 
better standard in reading than is at present obtained, though 
we are satisfied that in many Colleges much improvement 
has been effected in recent years, especially by means of 
dramatic work. In these matters of reading and speech the 
Colleges are at present often called upon to do work which 
should have been done in the Elementary School, and in the 
Secondary School or Pupil Teachers’ Class. We have already 
called attention, when discussing the Elementary Schools, to 
the disproportion which exists in them between the amount 
of time devoted to reading aloud and the results achieved. 
This we attribute partly to the size of the classes and partly 
to the frequent failure of the teacher to set a high standard in 
his own practice. Ability to read well should be placed in 
the forefront of the qualifications to be expected in a teacher. 
He cannot teach his pupils to read aloud better than he can 
himself. The teacher of literature, in particular, must be 
highly competent as a reader. Literature, especially poetry 
and drama, exerts a more potent influence when it is read 
aloud. Much of the appeal which it makes to children is 
dependent upon the beauty of sound, and unless the teacher 
can express this in his delivery, it will not succeed in making 
this appeal. 

Phonetics and speech training, again, receive considerable 


286 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


attention in certain Colleges, but, speaking generally, they 
are only occasionally and unsystematically dealt with. Good 
lecturers in phonetics are not yet easy to obtain: in the mean- 
time something might perhaps be accomplished by means of 
peripatetic teachers. Vacation courses organized by the 
Board of Education have done much good, and we should 
be glad to see them still further developed. Mr. Daniel 
Jones, who has for many years given courses in English 
phonetics at University College to L.C.C. teachers, is of the 
opinion that the students should have an hour’s training 
weekly during the two years’ Course. Miss Fogerty, who has 
a long experience in speech training, thought they should 
have weekly lessons, totaling not less than 60 hours, during 
the College course. This, Mr. Jones informed us, is the 
amount of time actually given to speech training in Training 
Colleges in Scotland. Mrs. Dowson also thought that about 
an hour weekly during the two years’ Course was needed. 
We endorse their recommendations and we th nk that during 
part of the time the students should be instructed in small 
eTroups. 

Our first point then is that much more attention should 
be paid to spoken English. The time allotted to oral work 
might well be doubled or trebled. Miss Hawtrey stated in her 
evidence that ‘‘all the oral work—i. e., story-telling, acting, 
reading, etc.—she would take together, and it should amount 
to quite a third of the students’ training in English.’’ The 
cultivation of the voice, guidance of the art of story-telling, 
instruction in recitation and reading aloud are all-important 
for that English teaching which all teachers are called upon 
to give. The voice of the teacher is his main instrument, the 
only model which his pupils have to follow, and too much 
attention cannot be paid to it. Here we should like to call 
attention to the memorandum, submitted by the British 
Drama League to the Board of Education, on the study of 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 287 


Dramatic Method in Training Colleges, and in particular to 
the recommendation of training in voice and diction, and 
practical dramatic work in relation to the literary curriculum, 
in which we heartily concur. The study of literature also 
would benefit greatly by more stress being laid upon oral 
work. That nice adjustment between the choice of material 
and the individual tastes and powers of the students which 
may be regarded as the essence of the right presentation of 
literature depends upon skilful oral teaching. In ora’ work 
the lecturer would naturally make frequent use of poetry, and 
the poem would be chosen to suit the reader or reciter. There 
should be no discussion as to the way a poem should be de- 
livered; poetry should be treated as something rather to be 
heard and spoken than to be studied. And though the stu- 
dents might learn less about literature, it may well be that 
a larger proportion of them would gain some conception of 
what literature 1s. 

It follows necessarily from these recommendations that an 
oral test should form an essential part of the examination in 
English. In no other way could the effectiveness of the oral 
teaching be ascertained. The examiner would hear the stu- 
dents read and recite, and would see for himself and take 
into account the value of any practical dramatic work done, 
and he would be able, by questioning individual students, to 
form a far more just opinion of how far they had really been 
educated and how far they were likely to prove successful 
as teachers of English than could be gained from a written 
examination alone. 

We also recommend the inclusion of a compulsory ‘‘lan- 
euage’’ test. It seems clear to us, from the evidence which 
we have heard, that it is necessary, in present circumstances, 
to draw a sharp distinction between ‘‘expression’’ and lite 
erature’’ and to concentrate upon the average student’s ex- 
pression, both oral and written, His reading should aim 


288 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


less at getting up the contents of particular books and more 
at obtaining a mastery of expression in English. From this 
point of view literature would be a means rather than an end 
in itself. A set essay might or might not be required, but the 
test should certainly not be limited to a set essay. Its ob- 
ject would be to test power of understanding English, of 
lucid thinking and of precise expression. In connection with 
the language we assume that books would be chosen from the 
great masters of English. style for all students to study, 
questions on them being directed to showing not whether 
they had been memorized, but whether they had been fully 
comprehended. We deal later with examinations in English, 
and with the forms which such a language test may take. 
Of any examination in English for Ordinary Course students 
it should, we think, with the oral test, form the predominating 
part.—The Teaching of English in England. Wondon, 1921. 
Dine io} 


THE SPECIAL TEACHER OF SPEECH TRAINING AND Pupuic 
SPEAKING 


“We must work to the end that all of the students may be 
assisted to that proficiency in speech which is necessary to 
happy and efficient performance of those social, business, and 
professional activities which should make up the life of edu- 
cated, civilized men and women. As the other side of this 
program we should resolve individually and collectively every- 
where to oppose the silly assumption that because a person 
knows how to speak more or less well he or she knows how to 
teach speech, and the equally silly assumption that because 
a person is a good teacher of physics or English or history or 
mathematics, he or she is a good teacher of speech. Then 
we must oppose the idea that the proper speech activities of 
an educational institution are limited to exhibitions and con- 
tests; we must oppose the use of contests as a substitute for 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 289 


genuine speech education ; we much oppose the prostituting of 
the contests which we have to cheap sporting ends; we must 
oppose the service (or dis-service as it often is) to the few 
prize specimens who are fit for exhibition and the neglect of 
the many who need intelligent help in the development of 
proper speech habits, public and private. 

Lastly and most emphatically we must oppose the idea that 
the teacher of speech in any of its phases does not need to be 
an educated person. We must stand firmly against the idea 
that is all too prevalent that a teacher of speech is sufficiently 
equipped if he or she knows something about matters of 
speech and does not need the same fundamental education 
that is required of the teacher of Latin or mathematics. We 
must realize that the uneducated teacher of speech is the 
greatest drag on the profession, and that only those can 
adequately serve the ends of education in liberal institutions 
who are themselves liberally educated, who can relate their 
activities to the other parts of the curriculum, and who can 
take part in the general educational guidance of the institu- 
tion on precisely the same terms as do the teachers of other 
subjects. In other words, we must take the position that for 
any grade of work the same general educational requirements 
should hold for the teacher of speech that hold for the teacher 
of Latin, mathematics, or physics. In the high school in 
which the teachers of other subjects are required to be at least 
normal graduates, the teacher of speech should be at least a 
normal graduate; in a school in which the teachers of other 
subjects are required to be at least the holders of bachelors’ 
degrees, the teacher of speech should at least be the holder of 
a bachelor’s degree; in an institution in which the M.A. is 
required of the teacher of Latin, mathematics, or physics, the 
teacher of speech should have at least an M.A.; in colleges or 
universities where the holding of a Ph.D. is regularly ex- 
pected on the part of teachers of other subjects, then the 


290 SPEECH TRAINING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 


Ph.D. should be regularly expected of teachers of speech.’’— 
‘Objectives in Speech Education,’’ by J. M. O’Neill. Educa- 
tional Review, Vol. 66, No. 5. December, 1923. p. 283. 


A DeEFINITeE PrRopLEM IN EDUCATION 


Speech as a definite problem in education ... should be 
stressed the year round. 

Such emphasis raises at once the relevant problem of the 
teacher’s training. Standards and objectives in speech exist 
as they do in writing. Great stress has been placed upon the 
necessity of the teacher’s being trained for the work of in- 
struction in written composition. The Committee believes 
that the teacher should be equally trained in standards of 
effective speaking. It is recognized, however, that oppor- 
tunities for teacher-training in speech problems exist only 
in a few teacher-training institutions, and that of necessity 
many teachers in the schools to-day will find it necessary to 
proceed on a basis of inadequate training. ... A teacher 
who understands the broad nature of the ae vin who 
possesses a willingness to stress certain minimum essentials 
of good speech and an enthusiasm for such instruction that 
will interest students and motivate instruction, can, with a 
minimum of training, do some good. Such a functor! more- 
over, should differentiate between instruction which he is 
adequately prepared to give and instruction that should be 
left to the specially trained instructor. The overzealous 
teacher, deficient in understanding of speech problems, is 
likely to encourage habits of speaking which will prove det- 
rimental to the student throughout life. 


FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS OF THE COMMITTEE 


It is assumed: 
First, that acceptable or educated speech is the outgrowth 
of an education in general; that the proper home influence 


THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 291 


and social relationships tend to stimulate right habits of 
speaking. 

Second, that good speech is not wholly a by-product of a 
general education, that standards of good speech are not 
adhered to in much of the home and social association, that 
self-discipline is generally as essential to the development of 
desirable self-confidence and distinct utterance, and that, 
therefore, specific emphasis on good speaking as an end in 
itself should become a part of the obligation of every class- 
room instructor in the secondary-school system. 

Third, that training in good writing does not wholly 
stimulate good speaking; it neglects the problems of the 
timid, student, of the student possessing habits of incorrect 
or slovenly articulation, and of the student neglect of bodily 
poise and freedom. Moreover, habits of sentence construc- 
tion developed in writing carry over very little into speech. 

Fourth, that something to say is the sole excuse for speech. 

Fifth, that the purpose of speech training is not to in- 
crease the amount of talk in the world, but rather to decrease 
the amount of talk through the development of correct think- 
ing and proficiency in the use of language, voice, and body. 

Sixth, that every teacher—especially every teacher of litera- 
ture, oral or written composition—should be an example of 
good speech, avoiding both extremes of pedantry and 
negligence.—From the Foreword by Glenn N. Merry to 
Better Speech Year, 1924 Bulletin of National Council of 
Teachers of English prepared by the Joint Committee on 
American Speech. 


Date Due 





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